By Ann Marie Angebrandt
TARNEIT resident Dinesh Perera was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August 2002 after suffering a chest pain during a cricket match.
The condition, a type of cancer that affects the blood’s plasma cells and bone marrow, was detected only a few months before the birth of his first child.
“I knew I would be OK, but I was worried about my family,” he said.
Despite the optimism of the 28-year-old security guard, doctors decided to wait before attempting a critical bone marrow transplant so he could meet his new daughter.
“They were straight and told me I could die during the transplant,” he said.
A year after the birth of Shanaya, now 3, to Mr Perera and his wife Amy, doctors started chemotherapy while searching for a compatible donor.
The check even included long-distance samples sent from Mr Perera’s brothers and parents in Sri Lanka.
His eldest brother, Chaminda, came up a perfect match.
He had no hesitation about flying to Melbourne to act as a bone marrow donor for his younger brother.
“We are a close family and he was happy to come,” he said.
Since the transplant in November 2005, Mr Perera said he feels on top of the world.
In fact, the young father feels so good that he will compete next week in the 10th Australian Transplant Games to be held the 16-23 of September in Geelong.
The biannual Games will bring together about 1000 other transplant recipients – both adults and children – from across the country, as well as from 10 other countries.
“This is my way of showing that transplant recipients are still normal people,” he said.
Mr Perera will compete in several running events and chess, but he thinks his best chance to win will be in squash or badminton.
“I’ve always tried to keep fit, and played those sports for a long time,” he said.
If he does well, he is hoping to get to the World Transplant Games in Bangkok Thailand next year.
Mark Cocks, CEO of Games’ sponsor Transplant Australia, said the event helped raise awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation.
About 3000 Australian adults and children are now on waiting lists for heart, kidney, lung, liver, pancreas or corneal transplants, he said.
For more information about the Games, which will be centred at Geelong Grammar School, or Transplant Australia, visit www.transplantaustralia.org.au.
