Meet 11-year-old Tlotlego Mabale from Centurion, a resilient soul who received the gift of life in 2022 with a life-changing kidney transplant after seven long years on the waiting list.

1. Which organ did you receive, and in what year?
Tlotlego received a kidney in 2022. 

2. How long were you on the waiting list for your organ?
Seven years on the transplant waiting list.

3. What was life like before the transplant? How did you spend your days?
It was very difficult because he was on peritoneal dialysis, which required a bag change every 3 hours and it took 3 hours. Everyone in the family took strain as we were not able to travel and visit family or friends. And during the day when he was playing, he constantly had to come back inside so that he could dialyse. We always had alarms that would call him in each and every time it was time for dialysis. Even when he was out playing he was not able to relax because he would constantly come and check if it was not time for dialysis. He was not able to swim because he was not allowed to because the tenckhoff catheter had to be kept dry and due to risk of infection he was not allowed to enter the swimming pools. He loves swimming so that was something that didn’t sit well with him, also having to constantly watch what he was eating with the fear that things might go terribly wrong was also very strenuous for him. Most of his favourite foods are the foods that he was not supposed to eat when he was on dialysis and he would constantly ask for them, even though he was not allowed to you could see how sad that was making him that he was not able to eat what he wanted to, when he wanted to.

4. Describe the emotions experienced when you received “The Call” for your transplant?
We were actually called up twice, the first time we arrived at 8 pm at the hospital had to wait for the final cross-match test to be done, unfortunately at and around 2 am in the morning, they told us, that the potential donor was not a match. We had to go home, we were very sad, but at the same time very happy for someone else that will receive the gift of life. When I was called the second time I remember I was pregnant and I was at the doctor’s room for my check-up on that day and they called me I was in the bathroom giving my urine sample and when the hospital called me I just flushed the sample in the toilet and I just left without telling anyone anything I just went out.

The traffic was so bad on that day, I still had to get home to pick up Tlotlego and get to the hospital in time. When we arrived at the hospital, it was so exciting and scary at the same time it was a bit unbelievable it was like a dream.

I kept asking myself can this be, can this be the day, even on our way there along the way when I was having a conversation with my son, kept asking him how did you feel? He has always been very positive about this whole thing and he kept on saying: “today I’m going to get it, Mama, today I’m going to get it.”

He was so happy and, while we were still on our way to the hospital he was already naming things that he was going to do after the transplant, making lists of places he wanted to visit, things that he wanted to do, foods that he wanted to eat it was very exciting it was very unbelievable.

5. What is life like now, after the transplant?
Wow, life after transplant life is simplified, there’s a lot of weight that is lifted off our shoulders including the patient himself he doesn’t have to always come back running home to dialyse. It is still a journey as Tlotlego will be on anti-rejection medication for the rest of his life, but it’s nothing compared to dialysis.

He needs to take his medication at 6:00 am and 6:00 pm every day, it has become a routine we are already used to. Everyone around him already knows and understands the importance of this medication they know exactly which pills he has to take and when.

Tlotlego is now able to do the things that he loves; he’s able to play soccer, swim, and he even recently came back from camping.

So it is bliss, it’s very beautiful and we are so grateful we can never even explain how our life has been simplified by this transplant.

6. What advice would you give patients on the waiting list?
The advice that I would give to our patients who are on the waiting list is, to hang in there just a little bit longer It’s a journey but there’s so much light at the end of the tunnel it will get better.

7. Why do you think there is a shortage of donors in South Africa?
To begin with, people are not aware of organ donation. Secondly, there is a stigma in South Africa regarding donating organs. Families and individuals would much rather be buried with their organs due to cultural and religious inhibition. It is very good that there are these annual kidney awareness weeks as more people will get to understand organ donation and transplants.  

People need to know that it’s OK to be buried without all your organs intact, there is nothing wrong with that being an organ donor you can save lives.

8. If you could describe a transplant in one word, what would it be?
Bliss