My sister Gill was diagnosed with kidney failure when I was 16 years old.  By the time I was 18 and she was 24 we knew that a transplant was her only option.
 
As far as I was concerned there wasn't anything to discuss - she needed a transplant and I had a spare kidney so I offered to be the donor.  At the time the surgeons had never taken a kidney from someone so young and they were not prepared to do it until I was 21.  As a family we couldn't let her continue on dialysis for that long.   Luckily I'm 1 of 4 kids so the next choice was my older sister Jannie and I'm glad to say that this transplant was a complete success and Gill returned to full health.  She went on the to have two wonderful children.
 
18 years later her new kidney started to fail again.  This time I was obviously well past the required age of 21 and offered my spare kidney immediately.  Our transplant again was another success story for everyone.  The surgeons now predict that my kidney will last at least 30 years as transplant technology has evolved.
 
Gill was just existing and had no quality of life at all and now she enjoys life to the full, this makes me feel incredibly proud and happy. 
 
Offering an organ is such a special gift.  In my sister's case it was truly the gift of life and I'm proud and grateful that my sister and I were able to do this for Gill. 
 
Steven Patis