Mong Ai Wei Keira, 16

School: Pasir Ris Secondary School

Topic: Email about your father’s gift

Award: Merit, Senior Category, 2022

Dear Uncle Tom,

I hope this email finds you well. How are you? I hope you are doing fine. Ever since you were diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure, you have been very busy balancing work and haemodialysis. How is the dialysis going so far? Everyone in the family is keeping you in our prayers and stands ready to support you. We all hope for your speedy recovery. I heard from my father that he is willing to donate his kidney to you. However, you rejected his offer. I have done some research on how to deal with end-stage kidney failure and discovered that receiving a kidney transplant is the best option. As you read on, I hope you will understand my father’s motivation to donate his kidney to you and why you should reconsider accepting his offer.

Firstly, my father’s motivation to donate is simple. He is a compatible donor to you and it is within his capability to save your life. Right now, being on haemodialysis ensures that you can live your life as normally as possible. Despite this, the interference of having to go for four-hour-long sessions of haemodialysis three times a week has drastically affected your quality of life. It deeply saddens my father to see his beloved brother looking so tired and nauseous after haemodialysis. My father always tells us stories of his childhood and the fun the both of you had when you were younger. I remember a particularly hilarious story about both of you going fishing and my father accidentally falling into the sea. Without any hesitation, you plunged into the frigid waters and saved my father, who at that time could not swim very well. The deep bond both of you share is also what moved my father to offer to donate his kidney to you. You are his only sibling. It would break his heart to see his brother suffer any further at the hands of kidney failure.

I understand that you worry that if my father donates his kidney to you, it could take a toll on his health. However, not to fret, I have done some research and discovered that studies of long-term effects of kidney donation show no decrease in life expectancy of donors and few long-term health problems. Furthermore, studies have shown that donors can expect to live a healthy life even after donation. My family has decided that should the transplant take place, my mother will take care of my father during that period of rest and cook nutritious meals for him every day to help him recuperate. Hence, you don’t have to worry too much that donating his kidney to you would affect my father’s quality of life. We will make sure to take very good care of him after his operation.

After donating his kidney to you, my father plans to rest at home for two months before returning to work. He has already consulted his boss on this matter and his boss has agreed to continue giving him a salary for the two months that he rests at home post-transplant. Additionally, he has already had a financial consultation with the financial counsellor at the transplant centre to determine the monetary and insurance coverage for the donation process. So you don’t have to worry that our family will be left financially unstable during the time that the transplant takes place. My father has thoroughly considered the financial aspects of donating his kidney to you and has taken the respective precautionary measures.

Furthermore, finding a suitable donor takes a very long time, much less a living donor. Given that there is a long waitlist for deceased kidney donors, you might have to wait a long time before an eligible kidney donor is found. My father does not want to see your condition deteriorate any further while waiting for a suitable donor on the deceased donor waiting list. Now that we know he is a suitable donor for you, you will be able to receive the transplant much faster than waiting for a matching deceased donor. It is found that a kidney transplant from a living donor increases the recipient’s life expectancy by 10 years, compared to receiving a kidney from a deceased donor! There is also a lower chance of organ rejection and reduces the time required to be on haemodialysis. Regular checks on the transplanted kidney and taking immunosuppressive medication every day after receiving the transplanted organ will be a given. I know these may sound daunting, but overall, having a transplant still offers a much better quality of life than haemodialysis.

Considering that your family is medically unsuitable to donate to you and you are the sole breadwinner of the family, it would affect your family very much should your health deteriorate due to kidney failure. Especially since your children are much younger than us, I am sure that seeing their father’s health go downhill will be a huge blow to them. Even if you are reluctant to accept my father’s offer, I sincerely hope that you will reconsider your decision on behalf of your family. It would be deeply saddening if your family loses their only source of income on top of possibly losing their dearest husband and father. We are all very concerned for your health and hope that you will seriously reconsider accepting my father’s offer. We hope to see you back to your energetic self again.

Get well soon!

Best regards,
Keira

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2022 are those of the participants and are not endorsed by the National Organ Transplant Unit (Ministry of Health). To learn more about organ donation and organ transplantation in Singapore, please visit www.liveon.gov.sg ↗ (opens in new tab)