Kidney swap could lead to national scheme

Kidney swap could lead to national scheme

Article from: The Sunday Times

Joe Spagnolo

November 03, 2007 06:00pm

PERTH -- A YOUNG mother and a father of four have spoken of their joy after Perth surgeons helped them have Australia's first kidney swap between two families.

The landmark transplants are the first to be performed on living people in Australia who did not know each other, and are tipped to pave the way for other states to allow paired kidney exchanges.

The Neilson and Turbett families agreed recently to swap kidneys so that they could be given to their respective children in a desperate attempt to save them from kidney failure.

The story of Peter Neilson, his daughter Violet, 28, and Jan Turbett, 66, and her son Steve Campion, 36, is both remarkable and controversial.

Mr Neilson had watched his daughter suffer for nearly a decade after she had kidney failure.

Three days a week she had to attend hospital for gruelling dialysis sessions, having barely enough energy to look after her son, Jordan, now four.

Mr Neilson offered to donate a kidney for her, but doctors told him it was not a suitable match.

Jan Turbett's son Steve, a single dad with four small children, also desperately needed a new kidney but she was unable to help because she was not a suitable match.

But a law passed by state parliament last year, allowing paired kidney exchanges between two living donors and recipients, gave them new hope.

Both families' details were stored in a WA Kidney Transplant Service database. In September, it was discovered that Mr Neilson's kidney was suitable for Mr Campion and Mrs Turbett's was suitable for Violet, and the two families made a deal to exchange kidneys.

Ten of Perth's top urologists and transplant surgeons, working in four operating rooms in two different hospitals, performed the surgery on October 17, and all four people, donors and recipients, were out of hospital in a few days.

At Kings Park on Friday, the four of them met for the first time, accompanied by Health Minister Jim McGinty, WA Kidney Transplant Service chairman Associate Professor Luc Delriviere (who was one of the surgeons involved in the operations) and Prof Paolo Ferrari, chairman of the Kidney Exchange Program, who had lobbied the State Government to allow kidney swaps.

It was clear that these four people, who had been through so much in their lives, had been involved in something special and now shared a common bond which would last forever. They hugged, they shook hands and they smiled a lot.

"We did it because we are a mum and a dad,'' Mr Neilson said. "That's what you do for your kids. While Steve has my kidney and my daughter has Jan's, we did it for selfish reasons, to help our children.''

His daughter said: "You can't put it into words. There is nothing you can do to show your appreciation. But it's just lovely. It's like living again, a new life.''

Mr Campion said he didn't know what to say to the man who had helped to save his life.

"What can you say to someone who gives up their kidney for you?'' he said. "I have four kids and I have missed out on just about everything they have done.

"It will be nice to do things like go to their sports day.''

Mr McGinty, Prof Delriviere and Prof Ferrari have called on the Federal Government to introduce a national kidney exchange program.

At any one time, there are about 20 people on WA's kidney transplant list who have a family member willing to donate a kidney but are not compatible.

Health professionals say that if the rest of Australia joined the program, the pool of people ready to take part in an exchange would swell to about 200.

Prof Ferrari said: "This has been a historical moment for Australia, not just West Australia. We are pioneering something that so far has really only been done in the UK and Korea and the Netherlands. Hopefully, other states will now follow.''

Perhaps the last word on this remarkable story should go to 66-year-old Mrs Turbett, who said her experience showed age was no barrier to organ donation.

"It's never too late to help someone in need,'' she said.

"Everyone is saying how wonderful I am, but I'm not. I just wanted to help my son.''

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22697550-2761,00.html

PHOTO: MIRACLE FAMILIES: Peter Neilson and his daughter, Violet Neilson, meet Steve Campion and his mother, Jan Turbett, for the first time, on Friday.