Inge Koevoet is full of beans ahead of a showpiece that waves the flag for organ donors and recipients.
The Nelson physiotherapist has lived with her sister Marlies’ donated kidney for nearly two years following 16 years combating focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a form of kidney disease.
To celebrate “the gift of life”, the sisters are jetting to Dresden in Germany for the World Transplant Games between 17 and 24 August with a New Zealand contingent.
Identified high blood pressure ahead of wisdom teeth extraction led Inge to a biopsy, which confirmed her FSGS diagnosis in 2007, and specialists informed her she would be on dialysis in five years.
She says, if there were early signs of her kidney disease, they may have been too mild to cause concern.
“I guess that’s the thing with kidney disease. Often people don’t know until their function is really, really low,” she says.
“So, in a sense, I found out probably much earlier. When I first was diagnosed, I had 35 per cent kidney function, but I don’t recall it affecting me.”
Inge was put on medication to manage her blood pressure, which also mitigates stress to her kidneys, and at this time was informed she would be due for dialysis in 10 years.
She had to pull back from competitive triathlons since the exertion was additional stress, and her energy levels also decreased as her disease intensified.
When Inge’s kidney function was down to around 11 per cent, a kidney transplant and joining a growing number of Kiwis hooked up to have their blood purified by dialysis machines were options.
“I was lucky enough from the beginning that my sister had indicated that she was pretty keen to be the donor,” she says.
“Even though hers wasn’t a perfect match, she was enough of a match, and the best outcome is to have a live donor so there’s less trauma to the kidney in terms of time outside of the body.
“I know, six or eight weeks before the transplant, my potassium was getting pretty high, and I was told if we don’t get this potassium down, I will need to go on dialysis, so it was a pretty fine line there.”
In October 2023, the kidney was transplanted, and Inge’s Energizer-bunny status is functioning normally again, facilitating her return to running, cycling and swimming. She says the World Transplant Games is a stage for Inge 2.0 in swimming, running and triathlon events and to applaud donors like her sister, who is also competing.
“[The transplant] made me get out there, get training and almost relive my triathlon days,” she says.
“I don’t think you can ever really thank anyone enough for what they do. I thought, wouldn’t it be awesome for [my sister] to walk into the stadium and have that special moment with all the other donors and family members.”
