Aids risk in NZ-born broadcaster's transplant gamble

It took the Austin Hospital medical team seven hours to remove Derryn Hinch's liver and replace it with that of the donor. Photo / Thinkstock

Kiwi-born Australian broadcaster Derryn Hinch was warned he risked contracting hepatitis or Aids before he was given a new liver last year from a long-term drug user who had committed suicide.

Nine Network's 60 Minutes showed Hinch, 67, meeting the family of his donor, Heath Gardner, 27, after they got in touch with him.

It took the Austin Hospital medical team seven hours to remove Hinch's alcohol-ravaged, cancer-riddled liver and replace it with that of the donor.

Surgeon Professor Bob Jones told Hinch just minutes before the surgery that there was a trade-off - a chance, because of Gardner's past, that he could contract Aids or hepatitis.

"I have been a gambler all my life - let's do it," Hinch said.

Gardner's mother, Lynda, gave Hinch a photo of her heavily tattooed son and his girlfriend.

"He looked like Benji Veniaman from Underbelly - a skinhead covered in tattoos with his girlfriend half naked, like something out of Animal Kingdom," Hinch said.

He thanked Gardner's family for taking the brave decision to donate his liver, saying of his donor: "I don't care what you have done or who you are - thank you."

Gardner said she did not hesitate to donate her son's liver, as well as other vital organs that saved two other lives.

"I didn't think twice - it made something good out of bad."

- AAP