Transplant Education for Living Legacies (TELL) in collaboration with Surgeons for Little Lives gifted
children in the Paediatric Burn Unit a Zane education toy.

Photo: Nurses from Paediatric Burns Unit at CHBAH and Zane

The Zane Project
Individuals and corporates shared their spare funds and enabled TELL to purchase enough Zane toys to do their very first hospital visit. The Zane Project’s aim is to raise awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation. Zane is an educational toy made by the Rare Bear Project, part of Rare Diseases SA and we found that by using Zane’s story, children understand organ and tissue donation and don’t find the concept frightening.

TELL has been sponsored a Zane mascot valued at R20 000 by Mascots SA. This mascot will spend his days telling kids how important it is to SHARE THEIR SPARE and how being born different is ok. Travis Kruger was gracious enough to agree to be our ‘Zane’.

CHBAH Visit
Zane (aka Travis), Fawn and Stella visited the unit on Wednesday, 2nd February at 12:00. The team arrived at the unit and were welcomed by a group of lovely nurses. Fawn did a quick talk to introduce The Zane Project to the nurses and explained how TELL hoped Zane would make sick kids feel more normal. TELL believes conversations like these are key in spreading organ and tissue donation awareness. The nurses were intrigued by the cause and were all very excited to take a few photos with Zane.

Photo: Zane at the unit entrance with one of the nurses

Once the talk was done, Zane was led to the main ward where the bulk of the patients are admitted to recover. Most of them were sleeping when TELL arrived as they have sustained severe burns which has resulted in them needing to be bandaged from head to toe and presumably in a lot of pain. There were 4 kids awake to whom Zane gently waved at and handed over a toy to each of them. They seemed nervous but curious and TELL hoped that later they would find some comfort in having their own little friend keep them company. Next, the team walked through the ICU section where the children are kept in isolation rooms that TELL were not allowed in to. It is a terribly emotional site to peer through the windows and see these tiny little humans suffering. One of the nurses commented that the unit was actually not very busy and that during winter they get an influx of critical patients.

TELL may not have been able to make a dent to the 500 children admitted annually to the Paediatric Burn Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital but they hoped to have at least made a difference to the 15 children they saw on Wednesday.

Burn wounds
According to the Centre for Tissue Engineering (CTE),” the need for human skin for the treatment of burn victims is enormous. An estimated 12% of all unnatural deaths are attributable to burn wounds in South Africa, and tragically this is the most common external cause of death in children less than 4 years old. These deaths occur due to the severity of the burns, but more so because there are no effective, affordable synthetic treatment options available to patients.”

Skin donation
Skin grafts are the gold standard in treating burn wounds, to minimise scarring and promote healing. Small children in particular need skin grafts as a small burn or scald can cover most of their body. The main function of skin is to retain moisture, regulate body temperature, protect from the body from bacteria and other harmful elements. Burn wounds must be dressed to prevent dehydration and infection. By applying donor skin to the burn wounds, the body recognises the skin as human tissue and sees it as the patient’s own and accepts it.

Zane’s Next Visit
TELL appreciates the donations received that made it possible to gift a Zane to the children in the burns unit. Now they plan to visit the paediatric ward at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre on Wednesday, 16 February 2022 to hand out Zane toys to children awaiting a kidney transplant or recovering from a transplant.

If you wish to make a donation and help TELL spread more joy to SA children in need of a skin or organ transplant, please use the banking details below. Each Zane soft toy costs R250.

Name: Transplant Education for Living Legacies NPO
Bank: First National Bank (FNB)
Account type: Cheque
Account no: 62818725775
Branch code: 250655
Reference: Zane

Donations can also be made via YOCO

For more information about organ and tissue donation, please visit TELL’s social media pages @tellorgza or website at www.tell.org.za

Thank you,
Stella de Kock
Managing Director
Transplant Education for Living Legacies
Stella.dekock@tell.org.za
0827852530

Additional Information

For more photos from our CHBAH visit, please see our Google Drive folder HERE

Who is TELL?
TELL (Transplant Education for Living Legacies) was established in November 2018. Two of the three founders, Alice & Fawn, are double lung transplant recipients, and are therefore in a unique position to make a contribution to the transplant community. Stella has since joined the team and is currently on the waiting list for a kidney. She brings perspective from a patient who has been on the waiting list since 2012. Most of TELL’s volunteers are either waiting for a transplant or have received a transplant. Through awareness campaigns and education initiatives, they aim to lead the conversation surrounding organ and tissue donation in South Africa.

They are a registered Non-Profit Organisation (#219-134NPO) and a Public Benefit Organisation (930069136).

Who are Surgeons for Little Lives?
They are an NPO, run by Paediatric Surgeons and ordinary people with the objective of raising the level of care given to patients in the Paediatric Surgery wards in state hospitals, in the Greater Gauteng area, to world class standards. Amongst many other projects they have also started a burns prevention project at CHBAH with materials developed by Greengrass through the support of SFLL to help create awareness.

What is the Paediatric Burns Unit?
The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the 3rd largest hospital in the world and Paediatric Burns Unit was established in January 1991, to cater for paediatric burn victims from Gauteng and the North-West province. The unit looks after children under the age of 9 who have burn wounds from hot water accidents, electrical appliances and fireworks. The unit is located in Soweto and is regarded as the best burn Treatment Centre in Africa.

Who is Zane?
Zane was born different. He is a Unicorn that had an illness that made him feel sick and tired. As he grew up, he started to feel worse and worse until his doctors told him that he needed an operation. One of his parts was no longer working and he would have to wait for a stranger to give him a new leg. Zane waited patiently and one day a miracle happened. A spare part was found for Zane and the doctors could finally operate on him. It took some time for Zane to recover from the operation but soon he started getting his energy back. He felt better than ever and loved his donated zebra leg which had changed him from a Unicorn to a Zunicorn!

Zane now spends his days telling kids how important it is to SHARE THEIR SPARE and how being born
different is ok.