Former Hastings man's donated kidney helps brother-in-law run marathon

Wellington man Matt Toole competing in last year's Cigna 10km event at the Air New Zealand Hawke's Bay International Marathon. Photo / Supplied

A former Hastings man's kidney donation will be helping his brother-in-law run at full steam in this month's Hawke's Bay International Marathon.

Wellington man Matt Toole completed the Cigna 10km event at the Air New Zealand Hawke's Bay International Marathon last May with a kidney operating at just 10 per cent.

Six weeks after the race he had transplant surgery with a kidney donated by brother-in-law Ian Goodacre.

Toole is now coming back to Hawke's Bay to compete in this year's race on May 12.

Becoming a kidney donor is not an easy choice for many but Goodacre, who now lives in Wellington, said he had no hesitation when he found out he was a match for his wife's brother.

"Matt had always lived with the knowledge he would eventually need one so the overall idea of an operation involving him receiving one had always existed.

"In the preceding five years since I started dating my wife the function in his kidney had slowly declined in fits and starts and had taken a turn for the worse in the 18 months before the donation.

"So when the need for a donation became a reality (or otherwise needing dialysis), I looked a little into it and thought that if I was a match then the long term effects on me would be very minor (if any at all) compared to the positives that could come out of a donation."

Being young, healthy and knowing the transplant recipient made the process even easier as well as the positives of seeing Toole in good health and spirits, he said.

"I knew the person and saw the effect such a condition and diagnosis has on someone both physically and mentally and knew that dialysis (which was the next step) is a very difficult stop-gap.

"People I knew and cared for, after a successful operation, could avoid years of the extra strain on life that comes from conditions like this."

The operation itself wasn't too bad and the only real challenge during the recovery was the tiredness, he said.

"It's odd knowing you are going to the hospital feel 100 per cent and then waking up worse off but I was glad once the countdown was over.

"The body doesn't seem to enjoy losing an organ so you don't bounce back to full energy or health quickly and that took a couple months.

"On a scale of things though, it was still minor and the recovery was just rest, which isn't too hard to do."

Now, about 10 months later, Goodacre often forgets about his missing kidney.

"For me personally I feel the same and everything I do is the same.

"I look forward to a lifetime of not having any effects from it and apart from scars it seems like something that happened in the distant past."

Goodacre will be on the sidelines supporting Toole during his run on May 12.