Healthy man decides to give away kidney

A healthy Dunedin man who last week gave away a kidney says waiting until he was "old and knackered" to donate it would have been no use to anyone.

Peter Brownie, 54, a Dunedin City Council water-treatment supervisor, said he decided to donate a kidney before he died after reading about a dialysis patient, whose life in Ashburton revolved around his treatment.

"If there's something you can do to help, which isn't going to have a dramatic effect on yourself, my attitude is, why not."

Mr Brownie contacted health authorities who launched him on a three-year series of tests, including an interview with a psychologist.

"That was to make sure I wasn't loopy. I was absolutely amazed to find that I wasn't."

At the beginning, Mr Brownie had wanted to help the Ashburton man he had read about, but that view changed.

"I decided that rather than going to this specific person, I would rather the hospital tell me who was going to get the most benefit from it," he said.

"You don't want to give it to someone who's only got a 40 per cent chance of improving with it."

All was ready towards the end of 2002, when Mr Brownie contracted a virus that affected his heart.

But within months he was given a clean bill of health and by the end of last year had a date with the surgeon's knife - March 29, 2004.

"Sure there's pain, some discomfort and what-have-you, but it's not that bad," the father of two said of his hospital experience. For Mr Brownie's wife, Bridget, it was a worrying time.

"I asked him right up until the day before the operation, 'Do you really want to go through with it?'

"If he had hesitated with his answer, I probably would have told them, no."

Mr Brownie was surprised others should think his act remarkable.

"For me, it wasn't such a big deal, but other people have reacted, saying, 'holy hell, that's remarkable, amazing'."

Mr Brownie has not yet met the female recipient of his kidney, who is reported to be recovering well.

- NZPA