Colleagues share gift of life and some valuable real estate

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Wednesday, 20 February 2008    Print  | Close
Colleagues share gift of life and some valuable real estate
Danielle Cronin

Canberra real estate agent Cory McPherson has parted with something priceless to save the life of his co-worker Jenny McReynolds.

"For me it was really as simple as Jenny was sick, I had some medicine. If Jenny didn't get the medicine, she would die or have a very rough life," Mr McPherson told The Canberra Times yesterday.

The father-of-two donated a kidney to Mrs McReynolds who was suffering from polycystic kidney disease an inherited condition that can cause renal failure and death.

A mother-of-three, Mrs McReynolds, said "thank you" was thoroughly inadequate to express her gratitude.

The real estate agents were professional competitors before they became colleagues at Richard Luton Properties.

He works at the Manuka office and she is based at Dickson.

They "saw each other occasionally through work".

Mr McPherson, 35, made the extraordinary offer to Mrs McReynolds at their work Christmas party in 2006.

"Richard Luton made an announcement saying 'anyone who doesn't know, Jenny's very sick.

"She's got kidney disease and if anyone's o-positive and has a kidney, please see Jenny'," Mr McPherson said.

"I went up to Jenny almost immediately and I said 'look you might not believe me now but I tell you I'm your man'."

Mrs McReynolds, 44, was "floored".

"I couldn't believe it. What an amazing thing for him to do. What a gift. It's lifesaving for me," she said.

She was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in her early 20s and her health had started to deteriorate in recent times.

She was hooked up to a dialysis machine for four-hour stints, three times a week.

Mr McPherson had a battery of tests to ensure he was physically suitable and psychological fit to donate his kidney.

The results revealed that the co-workers were "almost a perfect match", which was extremely rare when the donor and recipient were not blood relatives.

But Mrs McReynolds said "we'd almost pass as brother and sister if you look at us colour wise".

Mr McPherson quipped: "that's why we weren't on RPA.

"They said 'we'd make a good combination for the radio version but we didn't have the heads for the television'."

The transplant was successfully performed at RPA the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney on December 4.

Mrs McReynolds spent 712 hours in the operating theatre and seven days in hospital before she was sent home.

It took 512 hours to remove the kidney from Mr McPherson who was discharged from hospital after four days.

"I haven't had any issues at all from the time I came out of hospital," he said.

"I'm still living, breathing, partying like I used to."

The colleagues received "tremendous support" from their employer, co-workers, friends and families.

Mrs McReynolds and her husband Michael have three children 19-year-old Andrew, 18-year-old Mark and 14-year-old Danielle.

Mr McPherson and his partner Karen Marriner have 11-year-old twins Liam and Jack.

"I think we'll always have a special bond now. We feel like we're kind of family," he said.

The pair spoke publicly for the first time about their experience, hoping to inspire others to become organ donors.

Mrs McReynolds said people suffered immense hardships and pressures as they waited for a transplant. "A lot of people who do get sick lose their homes [and] they lose jobs," she said.

Mr McPherson said the organ donation rates "aren't impressive" in Australia."So many of us are busy in our own lives. We don't kind of look around much to see the people who are not doing so well and often there's things we can do to help," he said.

"People say 'jeez that was an amazing thing'.

"For me, I don't ever think of it like that. It's just awareness that you can save someone's life."

Australians who want to become organ donors should discuss their wishes with family and register by telephoning 1800777203 or visiting www.medicareaustralia.gov.au.

More than 1000 people are expected to take part in the Terry Connolly ORGANised Walk, starting at Regatta Point at 7am today.

Justice Connolly's corneas were donated to two people after the 49-year-old judge died suddenly in September.

Meanwhile, the ACT Chief Minister's Awards for Organ Donation Awareness were presented yesterday to Claire Gorman from ABC Canberra, photographer Fritz Gruber, volunteer Pat Siciliano and fund-raiser Rachael Henson.

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/colleagues-share-gift-of-life-and-some-valuable-real-estate/1186192.html