Young mom's kidney birthday wish

[caption id="attachment_151317" align="alignright" width="255"] Andiswa Busakwe has been on the waiting list for  a new kidney for nine years[/caption]

Andiswa Busakwe has just turned 24 years old‚ and her birthday wish is a new kidney.

Busakwe‚ who is from Queenstown‚ Eastern Cape‚ was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure two years after she gave birth to her first born in 2006.

She says it all started when she developed swollen feet.

“After a year and a few months of being in and out of hospitals doctors found that I have stage 5 kidney failure. My blood type is 0+ which makes it difficult to find a donor‚” Busakwe, who celebrated her birthday on Monday, said.

“My mother does not qualify and so does my brother. I had a match which was my other brother‚ whose blood type and everything matched mine‚ but he was unfortunately stabbed by his girlfriend in 2011 just before our operation. That’s the day I lost a lot of hope in finding a match.”

Busakwe said her life changed for the worse the day she was diagnosed.

“Everything changed for me. I can’t work or go to school because I have to go for my dialysis three times a week. I can’t drink a lot of fluids‚ including a lot of water‚ or eat too much‚ because my body can’t get rid of toxins on its own. I don’t enjoy the life that most people my age live‚ I feel like I have been robbed of my life‚” she said.

For the past nine years‚ Busakwe has been travelling about 400km from Queenstown to East London to get her dialysis at Frere Hospital.

Tuesday began with her undergoing four hours of dialysis.

Busakwe has been on the waiting list for nine years to get a new kidney.

She says if she does not get a donor she will be in a crisis as she has ‘run out’ of veins for the dialysis machine.

Busakwe says all she needs is a second chance at life.

According to the Organ Donor Foundation‚ there are approximately 4 300 South African adults and children awaiting a life-saving organ and cornea transplants.