FOR the Tamihana-Brown family, 2010 has started with a happy ending and a new beginning.
On December 9, Tammy Tamihana-Brown was given the gift of life . . . a kidney from her father Sam.
After years in chronic renal failure and on dialysis, 13-year-old Tammy is now full of life, a typical giggling teenage girl.
“Everything went better than OK,” said Mr Tamihana-Brown at the family’s home in Tolaga Bay.
“I came out really good and as soon as they had the kidney in Tammy, it started working.
“The effect was immediate and Tammy has gone from strength to strength.”
Tammy was born with acute renal failure. In 2008, after years of hospital stays and damage to her kidneys, Tammy was diagnosed with chronic renal failure and a life on dialysis was on the horizon.
“We were in Auckland practically all of last year . . . and it was a rough year,” said Tammy’s mother Venice.
“In August, Tammy got pseudomonas, a waterborne illness, and she was really sick. She did not eat for 12-14 days and had to be treated at Starship.
“But then, the day we got home, believe it or not she was diagnosed with swine flu and we were called back to Auckland.
“After that, the renal team gave us our options — Tammy either had a transplant or would be put on peritoneal dialysis and then haemodialysis and delay the transplant.
“Tammy has been sick from such a young age, we just wanted to give her some quality of life.”
By this time, the entire family of seven were living at Ronald McDonald House in Auckland. Mrs Tamihana-Brown started the work-up to become a kidney donor.
“Vinnie had too much on her plate. She couldn’t keep up with the regime and stay on top of Tammy’s dialysis and looking after the other children,” says Mr Tamihana-Brown.
“So I started. All the tests were going OK, right up until the night of the surgery.”
Only hours before the scheduled surgery times, scans showed Mr Tamihana-Brown’s kidneys were connected by three arteries. It was rare and complicated matters for Tammy, surgeons said.
“We had come so far that I was desperately hoping they would say we could continue,” said Mr Tamihana-Brown.
“Finally, at about 11pm, he found Tammy and I together at Starship and told us it was all go.
“Before the transplant, everyone kept asking me if I was nervous and the more people asked the more nervous I got. But the morning of the surgery I woke up and was peaceful and prepared. Nothing could have changed my mind.”
Tammy’s surgery was a breeze, however her father’s took longer than expected.
“I was really worried. I was in Starship waiting for a call from Auckland Hospital and Sam’s surgery was going on longer and longer,” said Mrs Tamihana-Brown.
“It was taking longer than the surgeons said it would. I had to leave Tammy with family and go over there.”
However, there was no need for concern. Both came out of the surgery with flying colours and the family moved back home to their Tolaga Bay farmhouse late last month.
Tammy was taking 15 different medications a day including anti-rejection drugs. But now she takes only eight, while her father takes Panadol every now and then.
Except for a slight bulge on her stomach where her Dad’s large kidney sits under her skin, there is no indication of Tammy’s earlier sickness.
The teenager is hanging out for a swim in the ocean and, after months of smelling food but not being able to taste it, is relishing every bite of a banana or a chocolate bar.
Mr Tamihana-Brown is back at work.
“I feel back to normal now, although for a while I felt like something was missing.
“The doctors told us my intestines would eventually fill the gap where my kidney was but at first when I rolled over, I could feel all my guts sliding into the space.”
Thanks to “fantastic support and love” from their family, friends and the McNeil Farming partnership, the Tamihana-Brown family are settling back into routine.
“We can’t say how much the Ronald McDonald House helped us and we made a whole new extended family while staying there,” Mrs Tamihana-Brown said.