Hospital does 3,000th kidney transplant

Australia's largest kidney transplant hospital has clocked up its 3,000th operation,
with surgeons saying it could at least take two generations to make donations
obsolete.
The milestone transplant at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital was performed
over Easter by the director of general surgery, Associate Professor Daryl Wall.
Dr Wall says while the rate of people donating organs is increasing, there are still
almost 2,000 people around Australia waiting for a transplant.
He says it's a sad fact that some of them will die before an organ becomes available.
"On occasions we have gone up to a death rate as high as five per cent on the
waiting list, and that's avoidable," he said.
He said transplantation would continue for at least two more generations, but
developing technology could eventually make it obsolete.
"There are possibilities for stem cell development for tissues, but presently that's
still a generation away, so we're hoping we can engage the Australian community in
organ donation for many years yet," he said.
One of the hospital's most recent transplant recipients received her gift of life
from her mother on March 23.
Mackay mum Renee Quinn, 32, says she struggles to find the words to thank her
mother, Gayle Ferguson.
"It's such a gift to give anybody - the gift of life," she said.
"It's a gift I can't repay. Before my transplant I was facing life on dialysis for
four hours every day.
"Having the transplant allows me to go back to normal and just live my life.
"Mum's recovery is wonderful, she was only in hospital for three days."
Mrs Quinn's son, Jayden, turns eight in a fortnight and she hopes to be released
from hospital in Brisbane and return to Mackay about a month after that.
"I'm feeling great," she said.
"I'm just looking forward to going home, not restricting my diet, and just going out
with friends and being normal."
Kate Stodart, from Queenslanders Donate, says more families of patients who die are
now volunteering their loved ones' organs before they're even asked.
"In the two years we've been tracking this trend over 60 per cent of families are
volunteering organ donations," she said.
"They have been able to see beyond their grief and ask if their loved one can be a
donor."
Dr Wall says while it's marvellous to see the donation rate go up, the incidence of
disease has increased too.
"It's particularly increasing in immigrants and Aboriginal people," he said.
"We have another nasty disease too, called obesity, which precipitates type two
diabetes and that in turn precipitates renal failure, so we have to expand our
donation rate still," he said.