Helmut Ludwig is a 69-year-old kidney transplant recipient and avid cyclist living south of Simon’s Town at Castle Rock near Miller’s Point, approximately an hour’s drive south of Cape Town. From his home, he enjoys a spectacular 180-degree view across False Bay to the Hottentots Holland mountains on the far side of the bay.

1. Which organ did you receive, and in what year?
I received a kidney transplant in 2023.

2. How long were you on the waiting list for your organ?
No waiting list at all. My brothers were a match.

3. What was life like before the transplant How did you spend your days?
Life got progressively more physically taxing as my creatinine rose and my red blood cell count diminished. I could not exercise for any length of time and my diet was severely restricted. My GFR (kidney function) was 10, patients usually start dialysis when the kidney function drops to 15. Anything I ate tasted terrible and I was very tired all the time.

4. Describe the emotions experienced when you were told your donor is a match?
Both my brothers were matches. They both live in Canada. Both agreed to a transplant. I left it to them to decide who would make the trip. In the end it was simply the fact that the one brother had all his travel documents in order while the other needed to renew his passport. All the in- depth tests were still to be completed here in SA. Then government approval was also required because my brother was a Canadian citizen. When we finally got the go ahead, I was unbelievably relieved and happy. There are no words to describe how I felt. Let me say this. I was in tears with gratitude. My brother’s reaction was pure joy. “Yes, yes”, he kept shouting down the phone’ “we are going to nail this!” It is after all one of the very few procedures you can have were you have a partner.

5. What is life like now, after the transplant?
Life is pretty normal. I ride my bicycle every second day round the peninsular. Only the very slight side effects of the immunosuppressants remind me that I am a transplantee.

6. What advice would you give patients on the waiting list?
In the words of Winston Churchill: “We shall never surrender!”

7. Why do you think there is a shortage of donors in South Africa?
Education is a big part. There is not nearly enough education regarding organ donation. I find it somewhat mystifying that there seems to be awareness to donate blood, but much less awareness of organ donation. Also, it would help a great deal to lobby the government to make organ donation a must (automatic) on accidental death. It would make sense to require to each individual to expressly forbid their organs to be recovered upon accidental death; e.g., death in a road accident.

8. If you could describe transplant in one word, what would it be?
“Providential”