AT any one time, more than 1500 people are on the Australian organ transplant lists.
While two thirds of Australians are willing to become donors, only 34pc are registered.
People on the transplant list can wait between six months and four years for a suitable donor.
Some are successful, others live life on medication and support and, sadly, a small number of people do not make it.
Millicent resident Glen Jones, who recently received a heart and kidney transplant, is one of the lucky beneficiaries to receive a life-saving second chance.
Now, along with wife Trudi, Mr Jones is calling for more registered organ donors in the country.
“It is such a touchy subject, but it is a conversation that needs to happen,” the pair said.
“You need to have the conversation when you are clear headed and take the emotion out of it.
“It is the ultimate gift of life.”
Mr Jones was born with congenital heart disease, undergoing his first operation at two-and-a-half weeks.
“He was an old-fashioned blue baby,” Ms Jones said.
“His heart was back to front and on the wrong side.
“Instead of the heart being a suction and a pump, it was a pump and a suction so that was all back to front.”
Although surgery rectified some of the abnormalities, Mr Jones’ life would forever be plagued by hospital visits and surgeries.
Despite medical professionals saying he would not live past 21, Mr Jones refused to let the illness rule his life.
“I learnt a good adage when I was a child just before one of my big operations, when they switched the heart around,” he said.
“It was new technology and I was the second person in the world to have it.
“I did not want to have it and one of the nurses said to me, you are not as hard up as what you think you are.
“She took me down to the burns unit where the kids are all burned and then you realise, things are not as bad as what you think they are.
“There are people who always have it worse.”
In the mid-80s, a young Mr Jones had an artificial valve implanted in his heart.
Just five years ago, Mr Jones’ rapidly decreasing heart required a defibrillator in order to restore a normal heartbeat.
The family were told by medical professionals in 2015 Mr Jones would finally need a heart transplant.
They would later find out he would also need a new kidney.
“Finding out I needed a transplant was sort of out of the blue,” he said.
“I had to see a specialist and she said ‘by the way, you need a heart transplant’.
“It had always been managed by tablets, but obviously it had deteriorated that quickly, which was a bit of a shock.
“From when they told us we would need a transplant, it took us three years to get onto the wait list.
“There is a lot involved and they do heaps of tests to make sure everything is alright.”
The Jones’ lucky break came in July, just two weeks after being placed on the list, when they were woken by a 1am phone call saying a donor had been found.
However, on arrival at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital they were told the organs were not viable during a final test.
Just one month later, Mr Jones finally found his match and in the early hours of August 27, successfully received a heart and kidney transplant.
Since the life-saving operation, Mr Jones has gone from strength to strength, with the pair saying they were in the best physical shape in a decade.
“We are very grateful and we have a totally different perspective on life,” Ms Jones said.
“It makes you realise how vulnerable everyone is and how quickly life can be pulled from underneath you.
“Become an organ donor, because you can save someone’s life.”
Visit donatelife.gov.au for more information or to join the Australian Organ Donor Register.
