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A new lease of life

MARIKA AZZOPARDI hears from a man who received the greatest gift anyone can give

Nearly 50,000 people in Malta and Gozo possess a donor card. Since 1983 six people have had heart transplants, nearly 100 have had a kidney transplant and an unspecified number have had cornea transplants. These are the only three organs which are transplanted locally. The incidence of organ donation has received an extra boost since the campaign encouraging it was launched in 1996.

Alfred Debattista is the president of the Transplants Support Group (Malta), which he formed after a personal experience placed him in direct contact with the perplexities associated with organ donation.

"I had a heart transplant in 1999, making me the fourth person in Malta to undergo such an operation. My donor was George Sultana, a 31-year-old man from Gozo."

Mr Debattista had been a police officer for 25 years, following which he became security manager at BOV. "I had always been quite fit and active. But I began to feel very tired and unwell and was diagnosed as having a weak heart in a healthy body." Doctors warned him that he only had a year to live. However he lived for two, constantly taking medication to control each body function. That span of time was indefinitely extended when he received a phone call from hospital.

"They called me in, saying that a person was dying and that I had to submit myself to tests." These proved that compatibility was excellent and the following day, Alfred Debattista underwent the major operation which saved his life.

Following the operation he immediately realised how little he had known about what being the recipient of an organ entails. He felt he had to do something about the situation and decided to start up a support group.

The group now embraces 120 registered members, who are all transplantees or people awaiting a transplant. Next of kin become honorary members.

"I have met the mother of the man whose heart saved my life. There are other people who benefited from the donation of other organs belonging to this man," he said. "This group has helped us all deal with the trauma of loss and gain in all respects. It has helped clear up many doubts and misunderstandings."

One common misconception is that a dead person’s organs can be donated. This is a fallacy since once a person is dead, the organs die with them. Organs can only be taken from persons who are in intensive care, whose life is being supported by machines. Once the person is brain dead, two doctors who are independent from the hospital and from each other, confirm the person dead at two separate times. If consent for organ donation is present through a donor card, additional consent is sought from the person’s next of kin. Whilst possible recipients are contacted and compatibility tests carried out, the donor’s body is maintained alive by means of machines.

All organs can only be kept available for donation for 24 hours, except the cornea which can actually be kept frozen for one year. This explains why generally cornea transplants are more numerous.

Age has nothing to do with organ donation. Obviously the younger the donor, the better the organ should be. But some elderly persons may have extremely healthy constitutions as opposed to younger people who may not be quite so healthy. Although the trend shows that younger persons are more likely to request a donor card, and that women are more likely to make enquiries regarding the matter, there is actually no age limit as far as donors are concerned.

The Transplants Support Group (Malta) may be contacted on tel: 21 223026 or marika@maltamag.com