Introducing Nancy Myburgh, 59, residing in Elliot (Khowa) in the Eastern Cape. Join her on #TransplantTuesday as she shares her story of donating a kidney to her husband in 2011. Discover her motivations, insights into life post-donation, and why she believes organ donation is a remarkable act of saving lives.

1. Which organ did you donate, and in what year?
A kidney in 2011.

2. How long was your recipient on the waiting list for an organ?
I donated to my husband. We knew long before he was in kidney failure that he would need a kidney. We started the process years before, we knew I was a match and when his kidneys started failing we initiated the process of live donation. So he was never on dialysis.

3. What made you decide to donate?
I had been an organ donor before I met my husband.

4. Describe the emotions experienced when you were told that you are a suitable donor?
Thankful that I could do it for him.

5. What is life like now, after donating an organ?
No different than before. Having one kidney has not impacted my life at all. I am careful with medications that put a strain on the kidneys like anti-inflammatory pills, but I don’t as a rule pop pills.

6. What advice would you give people considering being a living donor?
Try and live a healthy life.

7. Why do you think there is a shortage of donors in South Africa?
Ignorance. And we have a big problem with obesity in South Africa. Unfortunately, obese people cannot donate as a living donor.

8. What is the biggest stigma/myth you have heard about organ donation?
I have not really heard anything. People are just ignorant.

9. If you could describe donation in one word, what would it be?
Wonderful.

10. Are there any reason NOT to be an organ donor?
No, unless you have a life-threatening disease like cancer.

11. If you could be any organ, what organ would you be and why? 
Liver. It is the only organ in the body that regenerates.