Steven Hollingsworth spent every day for five years waiting for a phone call.
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A diabetic with kidney failure, he was waiting for the organ that could save his life.
It was between midnight and 6am the call was most likely to come.
Just at the point where he would have needed to go on dialysis, he received the donation of a kidney and a pancreas.
Now, his whole life has changed. He is no longer a diabetic, he has more energy, he is able to enjoy life with his family, and he can play cricket.
Mr Hollingsworth’s kidneys had begun to fail after 23 years with diabetes. It was a legacy of his love for playing sport, which caused his blood sugar to bounce up and down.
He can’t describe how grateful he is to his organ donor, their family and the team of health professionals who helped him.
“For me personally, [for] our family and friends, it’s a traumatic experience sitting there for five years, just waiting for the phone call,” Mr Hollingsworth said.
“It’s now given me some freedom to enjoy my family life, with my son and my wife.”
Mr Hollingsworth is a member of Lucky Stars Australia Transplant Cricket Incorporated. The team travels around the country to promote organ and tissue transplant awareness.
The majority of players have received either a cornea, lung, liver, heart, kidney or kidney pancreas.
As well as raising awareness, the team is a chance for organ recipients and their family to get together and share their experience.
“Our families, especially our wives and children go through a lot behind the scenes,” Mr Hollingsworth said.
From ‘curtains’ to cricket
It was nearly “curtains” for Tim Chisholm.
In his mid-30s Mr Chisholm began to have digestive trouble. It wasn’t until he was 40 that he was diagnosed with a degenerative disease of the liver.
By the time he was 46, his liver was barely functioning.
That year Mr Chisholm spent five months in and out of hospital with constant string of infections and malabsorption issues.
By April 2014, he had nearly reached the stage of no return. Without his liver working, other organs were beginning to fail.
“The liver controls everything,” Mr Chisholm said.
“When that organ fails, the rest of your body starts to fail, and that was the issue with me.”
It wasn’t just his life that hung in the balance. The uncertainty of the wait made it a traumatic time for his young family.
“It is a very difficult time when you’re waiting and when you’re sick, your family go through a lot,” Mr Chisholm said.
“I had little kids… so a very very stressful, very traumatic time of your life.”
It was in April 2014 he received a life-saving liver transplant.
He is now able to live a normal life, spending time with his family and playing sport.
“That completely changed my life...it saved my life,” Mr Chisholm said.
“It gave me a chance to play cricket with my son, which was a great feeling.”
Mr Chisholm is incredibly grateful to the family of his donor.
He knows almost nothing about the man who gave him his kidney, just that he would have been a similar blood type, tissue type and size.
But he wants to thank their family for the life-saving gift.
“To be told you’re receiving a transplant is this really big high, but then you think of the flipside, that someone’s just lost a family member,” Mr Chisholm said.
He is urging people not only to register as an organ donor, but to have a conversation with their families about it.
- To register as an organ donor, visit donatelife.gov.au/register-donor-today