Charitable initiative, One Kidney Club coinciding with World Kidney Day, is set to provide much-needed support to Australian kidney donors, organ recipients, and their families and friends as they undergo the life-changing process of organ donation.

One Kidney Club runs a successful Donor Hero Care Packs initiative which brings care packages to recent living donors immediately after surgery in hospitals across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, with plans to roll out nationwide.

According to the Department of Health, more than 1,600 Australians are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant with a further 12,000 Australians on dialysis who would benefit from a kidney transplant. Though the national donation rate doubled between 2009 and 2019, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic caused donation and organ transplant rates to plummet dramatically.

“The average donor can save up to 7 or 8 people, but organ donation is still such an uncomfortable topic,” says One Kidney Club founder Dineish Nallainathan, who unexpectedly became a kidney donor after finding out a loved one was in end-stage kidney failure.

“I want people to know there is support out there for people who have been through or are going through this process,” he said. “Donors come from all walks of life and though everyone’s situation is unique, we’re united by our desire to help people. I want to demonstrate that not only can life very much get back to normal with one kidney, you’re also giving the recipient a new lease on life, which is incredibly rewarding.”

Donor Hero Packs is a small token of appreciation for saving someone’s life. The pack contains essential items such as hand creams, shampoo/conditioner, coffee sachets, snacks, mints, wheat packs, eye masks and ear plugs to make new donors stay at hospital a little more comfortable. The pack will also contain a ‘Thank you’ card on behalf of all of the supporting organisations (including the transplant team).

The growing One Kidney Club community of living kidney donors, their families and organ donation advocates have made it their mission to broadcast the importance of organ and tissue donation and the benefits they bring to Aussies in need.