Change of heart makes case for donors

The Sydney Morning Herald



Grateful: Magistrate Brian Maloney now needs a liver. Photo: Jacky Ghossein


The sun was shining, his beloved Sydney Roosters had flogged NRL grand finalists the Bulldogs 38-nil the night before, and magistrate Brian Maloney could not wipe the smile off his face.



''What a great day to have a heart transplant,'' he said as his wife drove him across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was Saturday, April 13, and he was on his way to St Vincent's Hospital.



That morning, he had received a life-changing phone call: ''We have a possible donor, could you please come in sometime in the next two hours?'' He was there in just one.



The phone call had floored the usually ebullient magistrate. ''My god. It's happenin now,'' was all he could think. ''You don't jump around like you've had a lotto win.''



His wife, Melody, the mother of his two young children, added: ''It was just surreal.''


For more than a year, he had known that the ''familial amyloid polyneuropathy'' he was born with could take his life. The genetic disorder meant his liver had for his whole life been gradually emitting a defective form of a common protein, infecting the nervous system.


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______________________________________________________


"You have the power to SAVE lives."


To register as a donor in California:


www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org


Outside California:


www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.


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