AFTER 10 years of renal dialysis, Kim Wilesmith took a long-awaited phone call in the middle of the night from the transplant co-ordinator at Westmead Hospital in Sydney.

A compatible kidney had been donated.

“The first thing I said was ‘are you serious?’ I cried and felt so awestruck,” says 52-year-old Kim, of Kambah.

She recalls her excitement as she packed a bag, rang family and friends, and drove to Sydney with her daughter.

The June operation took almost nine hours and Kim’s recovery took several weeks.

“It was a miracle. I came home after three weeks and still couldn’t quite believe what had happened. I didn’t realise how unwell I was until after my transplant. I was so tired before but now I have so much time and energy,” she says.

She’ll be applying some of that energy to taking part in the annual Gift of Life’s DonateLife Walk on Wednesday, February 13, which is again expected to see up to 5000 participants walking around Lake Burley Griffin.

Kim was born with renal reflux and received a kidney transplant from her mother in 2000. After complications, the kidney failed in 2008 and Kim had been on the transplant list, waiting for a suitable match and having overnight dialysis on a machine at her home.

While Kim says she continued to work full time as a public servant and enjoy her social and family life, having to be on dialysis for 10 hours every second night took up a lot of time and energy. She says she used to call the dialysis machine “my boyfriend”.

“I tried to always make the best out of a bad situation, but everything I did I had to think about dialysis and work around it. Just like you would consult a boyfriend on plans, my first thought was about dialysis,” she says.

Now in its 13th year, Gift of Life president David O’Leary says the lake walk is to increase awareness and encourage people to sign up to the Australian Organ Donation Register.

In 2018, according to the organ and tissue authority’s recent report, more Canberrans said “yes” to organ donation than ever before, with 21 people from the ACT donating their organs and giving the gift of life to 67 people.

David says progress has been made over recent years, but with 1400 people at any one time waiting on the national transplant list, more can be done to make sure people register their intention to become an organ donor, should they be in the situation to become one.

He says there have been significant increases in numbers of people prepared to donate and registrations have gone up 50 per cent since the government started the Donate Life program in 2008.

“At the moment, the consent rate is at 60 per cent but we would like it to be at 70-75 per cent. It is possible but it doesn’t happen without registration,” he says.

David says that registration is important so families are made aware of their loved one’s wishes to donate their organs.

“In cases where people have registered and they are suitable donors, 90 per cent of cases proceed in organ donation,” says David.

Kim encourages everyone to join the Australian Organ Donation Register.

“The gift of organ donation is like no other you will ever give. It is a miraculous, life-changing gift,” she says.

Gift of Life’s DonateLife Walk, Wednesday, February 13, starting from Regatta Point at 7am. Register at giftoflife.asn.au

Register consent to be an organ or tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au