New kidney restored Zakhele’s life
Khanyile was on dialysis from 2009 until he received a new kidney through the Organ Donor Foundation in 2016.
“MY life as I knew it changed!” These are the words used by Zakhele Khanyile (66) as he explained how a poke on his toe, while gardening in 2009, coincidentally led to a series of crippling events and a booked kidney dialysis all in a week.
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Khanyile took some time to look back at his journey with kidney failure and shared his experience.
“I was working in my garden as I always did so when I felt a poke on my foot I didn’t think much of it as I thought it could have been a thorn and nothing major. But later that evening I started feeling different, I was so cold and my body was shivering,” said the Pinetown resident.
“I was in pain but I thought I could sleep it off,” he said.
Khanyile’s wife, Nomusa, noticed that he started looking pale.
When he woke up from that nap his situation was worse. “I got up to go to the bathroom and noticed my urine was black. Alarmed, I called the kids and my wife to see,” he said.
His family rushed him to the hospital where they did blood tests, however he was not given a definite diagnosis.
“My doctor handed me over to a kidney specialist. The kidney specialist then booked me for a dialysis which I was told I was only going to undergo for a month. At that point it was not made clear to me that I had kidney or renal failure,” he said.
Khanyile said his kidney failure changed his life as most of his time was spent in hospital. “I was on the dialysis chair three times a week for four hours at a time,” he added.
Khanyile was on dialysis from 2009 until he received a new kidney through the Organ Donor Foundation in 2016.
The kidney transplant gave me my life back. “I can freely work in my garden again, I can drive and I can take long holidays with family.”
He said this illness has made him realise the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
“Its important to take care of yourself, get yourself checked up regularly and watch what you eat,” he said.
His kidney failure has encouraged him and his family to raise more awareness on kidney failure and organ donation.
Khanyile started an organisation, Second Life Organ Foundation, to educate and raise awareness.
For more information and to register as an organ and tissue donor go to the Organ Donor Foundation’s website on www.odf.org.za
