IT took almost twelve years for Nicholas Clarke to receive a kidney transplant after he was diagnosed with end stage renal failure in 2001.

“I never really thought that is wasn’t going to happen, I knew I had to stay positive,” Nicholas says.

In August, Nicholas, a father of five and the Chief Executive Officer of Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), received a kidney transplant after years of dialysis.

“When you’re waiting for a transplant you’ve got to have your phone with you all the time – I actually went out for coffee and for the first time ever left my phone on the bench at work and one of my staff picked up the call,” he says.

“I was walking back from the coffee shop with my coffee in hand and they came running down the path to me saying ‘you’ve got a donation!’”

Nicholas, 52, says so far “everything is going well” with the transplant and his blood tests are positive.

“I feel so much better, like I’ve got who I am back,” he says.

“On dialysis, you’re often feeling very crook, you’re on it about 30 hours a week.  I was a diminished version of who I was previously.”

Nicholas hopes other people waiting for a transplant can eventually feel the same way, and will raise awareness about the importance of discussing organ donation with family during DonateLife week next week.

“It’s just so important to start talking about this,” he says.

“Being a registered donor is not just about filling out a registration form, you have to discuss your wishes with your family because if you did die, they are the ones that will discuss your wishes with the doctors. Lots of people want to be donors but they don’t get to donate because their family didn’t know they want to donate.”

Gift of Life’s DonateLife Walk 2013
Wednesday February 27
6.45am for 7am sharp start
Regatta Point, Canberra

Register on the website: http://www.giftoflife.asn.au/RegistrationPage.html