In a first for South Africa and the African continent, a Mitchells Plain woman was given a second lease on life thanks to a miraculous new procedure that allows transplant patients to accept organs from donors of different blood groups.
Chervon Meyer, 35, from Rocklands received a kidney from her 24-year-old brother Joshua Swail, after surgeons at Groote Schuur Hospital performed an innovative surgery through the use of a filter, Glycosorb.
The filter has been lauded as a game-changer and was developed by Glycorex Transplantation from Sweden.
Usually, a patient and donor has to be blood compatible for transplantation, but this device filters the blood of a donor to make the organ compatible for the patient.
Chervon, who received her new kidney last week, says she is grateful for the new lease on life and cannot wait to start living a normal life again.
The transplant comes after she met the hospital’s criteria, as she has been on dialysis treatment for kidney failure since 2013.
“This was not an easy journey and so I am grateful that I could have the transplant without needing a compatible match,” the mom of two explains.
“I’m first going to get a job, to be financially stable. Then I want to take my kids on outings ... and buy them things, all the things I could never do.
“I was always sick, I was always feeling drained, I could never be at any function, I could never be home [because I was in hospital].
“Because of this transplant I am feeling 100%, I’m more at home and more active.”
Chervon tells the Daily Voice that her brother promised to donate his kidney, although several family members had themselves tested for compatibility.
“This was all out of his own because he said he couldn’t see me struggle and begging people for food or travelling money. He just wanted a difference for me and my children, and that is what I'm going to do,” she adds.
According to Zunaid Barday, a nephrologist at Groote Schuur, the hospital is thrilled to provide its patients with this new technology.
“With this filter, we can now safely transplant many patients across incompatible blood groups, which was an absolute barrier previously,” he adds.
“This will allow potential living kidney donors who were turned down previously because they were the wrong blood group for the person they wanted to donate, to come forward again to be retested.
“This should result in more patients who have been on the transplant waiting list, sometimes for many years, to get a successful kidney transplant.”
Johan Lavén, CEO at Glycorex, adds: “We are grateful to have been able to support Dr Barday and the Groote Schuur Hospital Renal Transplant Unit in successfully performing the first blood group incompatible kidney transplant with our medical device Glycosorb in South Africa.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za