Kidney patient's residency lifeline

Radhika Lal is eligible for a transplant now she has residency. Picture / Dean Purcell

After nearly two years of uncertainty over her future, Fiji-born kidney dialysis patient Radhika Lal has been granted New Zealand residency, making her eligible for dialysis treatment and potentially a kidney transplant.

"I am so excited. When I heard I was overjoyed," said Miss Lal, who turns 19 this month.

"It's been very up and down, like a rollercoaster ride. When I thought about dialysis ending and what was going to happen afterwards, it was pretty hard to take in."

The teenager featured in the Herald in July 2003, when her medical insurance firm said it would stop paying for her treatment.

She had travelled to New Zealand from Papua New Guinea after an aunt was found to be a suitable match for a transplant. But before the operation, her aunt suffered a stroke, which meant she could no longer have surgery.

Without treatment Miss Lal would have died within weeks.

As the family continued the search for another donor, publicity over Miss Lal's case resulted in Ronald McDonald House Charities stepping in and paying for her dialysis treatment.

Executive director Sarah Hood said the Auckland-based charity had paid for just over 12 months of dialysis costing about $70,000.

That finished when Miss Lal received the first indication her residency would be approved.

"We gave her a year to explore those opportunities and she found it all herself," Ms Hood said. "We are really proud and pleased for her. It's a dream come true. She has a chance at continuing her life. That, for a young girl, has to be pretty amazing."

Last year Miss Lal thought she had found a second donor but tests revealed the person had a lesion on their kidney, making them unsuitable.

When friends suggested she apply for New Zealand residency she decided, "What the heck".

She gave Helensville MP John Keys details about her case, and he passed her file to Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor.

She was asked to supply a good-character reference from police in Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Last month her residency application was completed.

"It entitles me to basically everything an ordinary New Zealander would be entitled to, like medical treatment," she said. "I can work, go to school, do anything I want."

The first thing Miss Lal plans to do - apart from thank all those who have helped her - is apply to study nursing at the Auckland University of Technology. Ultimately, she wants to work as a renal nurse.

"I always wanted to be a doctor but at that time I didn't know anything about renal failure.

"By the time I came to New Zealand I was fascinated by it, the dialysis nurses, the technicians, the whole team of kidney people. I think I have a better understanding of a person on dialysis. I know how it feels to be on the machine."

After two and half years of kidney failure and daily medication she is also looking forward to more socialising.