When Nombuyiselo Skafu arrives at the start of the South African Transplant Games in Nelson Mandela Bay this weekend, it will be a victory lap for the brave 35-year-old who has been close to death several times in the past few years.
Skafu, of Joe Slovo, who is HIV-positive, suffered kidney failure during her first pregnancy in 2010.
“My baby was born at seven months, weighing only 1.4kg. She was very, very small,” Skafu said.
Skafu, who was an avid runner before her pregnancy, never fully recovered.
“I just remained ill. For two years I was in and out of Dora Nginza Hospital.”
She finally met a dietician at Dora Nginza who referred her to the renal unit at Livingstone Hospital.
There she was placed on dialysis in 2012 and continued with treatment for 32 months.
“Because I am HIV-positive I developed infections,” she said.
Soon after, however, she received a phone call from Dr Elmi Muller, who was heading up a programme at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town for HIV-positive patients to receive kidneys from HIV-positive donors.
“I grabbed that chance,” Skafu said.
“I knew this was God giving me a new life.”
She received her transplant on July 15 2015.
“I will never forget that phone call. They said I must come – there is a kidney match for me,” Skafu said.
“My only thought was that God was with me.”
She said her daughter had also been very happy about the transplant.
“After the transplant God gave me another gift. I now have another baby.”
Skefu said she was delighted to have qualified for the South African Transplant Games.
“I am proud. I have worked hard to get here.”
She said she was not employed at the moment and was living on a disability grant.
“I want to say to other HIVpositive people out there: Don’t be afraid of what you are.
“Everything happens for a reason. If you need a kidney, take an HIV-positive kidney.
“That kidney already knows all the medicine you will have to take. It won’t get a shock like that of an HIV-negative person. Your life will be wonderful after a transplant.”
Skafu will be taking part in the 1 500m, 800m and 5km road race events at the games.
Between September 2008 and February this year, 49 HIVpositive patients received kidney transplants at Groote Schuur Hospital.In 2008, Muller was the first surgeon in the world to transplant a kidney from an HIVpositive donor to an HIV-positive recipient.
At the time, an HIV-positive kidney transplant was the only option available to HIV-positive patients suffering from renal failure as they were disqualified from dialysis and HIV-negative transplants.
This changed in 2010. According to the South African Transplant Sports Association, athletes between the ages of five and 80 will take part in 13 events this weekend and those qualifying will go through to the World Transplant Games in Newcastle in the UK next year.
Non-track and field events were held on Friday and on Saturday the athletics event will take place at the Madibaz Athletic Track at Nelson Mandela University.
The games are open to the public.