While many fathers unwrapped socks and jocks this Christmas, Max McDonald celebrated a life-long gift from his daughter – a new kidney.
When Kimba-born farmer Max McDonald, 62, retired to Cleve in the early 2000s he was surprised to realise his health was failing for no obvious reason.
Always a healthy, active man, Max found himself suddenly weak and listless. It was at his 60th birthday party that Max first started to notice that the barbecue he loved had a tinny taste and didn’t smell good.
“Tucker started to taste terrible and I didn’t feel like getting up in the mornings although I’ve always been an early riser,” he said.
Fearing diabetes, Max began a routine of healthy eating and exercise.
“But I just got worse. After six months of being crook I was just about buggered. I went to a clearing sale and had to get driven home because I just collapsed in the yards.”
In June 2008 Max was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide with kidney failure.
“Kidney failure is a gradual thing – it took six months for my body to finally just fall over. The toxins in my blood were so high that the doctors at the QEH had never seen levels like them in real life.”
With Max’s kidneys no longer filtering the toxins in his body, he was literally being poisoned by his own blood. Max and his family believe it was his ongoing fitness and healthy lifestyle that helped him fight the problem for as long as he had.
The road to wellness for Max began with dialysis and wife Carol, 60, played an essential role. While Max was fitted with a ‘fistula’ in his arm – which provided a direct line into a vein to drive the dialysis needle to – Carol had to learn how to run and maintain the dialysis machine which would recycle and filter Max’s blood for him, constantly draining his blood and feeding it back into his body.
“I was just a cocky’s wife, the closest I’d been to having to inject someone was needling the sheep at mulesing time,” Carol said.
So while Carol prepared to spend the couple’s retirement helping Max with dialysis in their Cleve home where day-to-day activities and their renovation plans were put on hold three times a week, their daughter Roanne Hunter, 36, began investigating the option of becoming a ‘live donor’ for her dad.
With dialysis, Max was given a 60 per cent chance of reaching his 70th birthday but with a successful kidney transplant his odds rose to 90 per cent.
When Roanne’s medical results came back compatible with her father’s, the family were offered a ‘shortcut’ through the organ donation process. Roanne’s only request was that they “hurry up and do the operation” so she’d have time to heal before netball started.
After months and months of tests, training and operations – Max still remains close friends with many of his ‘Kidney Club’ mates from the QEH.
Today, Max’s health is almost back to normal and he believes his daughter has given him more than a kidney – she has given him the time to see her own son Leyton, 9, grow to be a man.
“We were so fortunate – everything about our procedure was text book, which is actually really rare. After five weeks I was back up on my feet – it was less trouble than having a caesarean,” Roanne said. “I only missed a couple of games of netball but I was sick of the needles by the end of it.”
“If there’s anything we can get people to take away from this it is to donate blood when you can – from personal experience, I can tell you it’s a lot easier to donate it than to need it.
“Anyone can be an organ donor. Even your skin can save someone’s life. But it’s not enough to just tick the box on your licence – you need to talk to your family about it so they know it’s what you want if something should happen to you.”
To be an organ donor, you must join the organ donation register – forms are available at most medical centres or online at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au
Ma x and Carol said they were overwhelmed by the support they received during Max’s illness at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and, locally, from community health nurse Dawn Briese, Cleve, and Dr Richard Jolly, Kimba, who helped the family push through red tape and uncertainty to receive appropriate care.
“What we’d like to say now to other people is that if we can help someone understand more about dialysis or kidney disease, or help them find out about donating an organ, then we’re here,” Carol said. “And if you think you’re sick – don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Keep looking for help until you find it.”
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