Thanks to Heidelberg's Austin Hospital for the gift of life

Source: Heidelberg Leader

MICHAEL Knight is living proof a stranger can give the greatest gift: a second chance at life.

The 59-year-old’s time was almost up before he had a lifesaving liver transplant at Heidelberg’s Austin Hospital.

“I was diagnosed with liver disease in 1993, and was put on the transplant waiting list in 2005 at the hospital,” the Chirnside Park resident said. “I am thankful every day that someone decided to be an organ donor because they gave me the gift to live.”

Mr Knight said it was a “wonderful moment” when he received the phonecall that he would get the transplant. “If someone hadn’t been brave enough to give me that gift, I would have been dead in a matter of weeks,” he said.

“If I didn’t get my new liver, my wife would be left without a husband, my kids wouldn’t have a father and I wouldn’t have had the good years I’ve had since the operation.”

To give back to those who helped save his life, Mr Knight now devotes two days a week volunteering at the Austin.

The Austin is this week celebrating DonateLife Week, a national awareness week on organ and tissue donation.