Being a living donor ‘It takes a special person to do what you’ve done’

Ever thought about donating an organ to a complete stranger? No, neither had most of us, until we heard this.

In the latest episode of our People at the Heart podcast, we hear from Sharon Masters, surveyor and technical lead at RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com. A few years ago, she quietly did something most people aren’t even aware is possible: she became a living donor.

Sharon didn’t just help save someone’s life – she also ended up discovering a whole new world in the process.

In this short and open chat, Sharon joins Johnny Thomson to talk about:

• Why she made the decision to donate (and how a random TV show played a part)

• What the experience was really like – physically, mentally and emotionally

• The British Transplant Games, and how she ended up on the winner’s podium

• The importance of talking to your family about donor cards

  
  

It’s one of those stories that stays with you, not just because of what she did, but how she talks about it.

Listen to the full episode here (or watch the full video podcast at the top of this article) – it’s well worth 15 minutes of your day. If you'd prefer, a transcript can be found below.

Want to learn more about organ donation or becoming a living donor? Start your research here: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

To hear more stories from our people here at RiskSTOP Group, head to our podcast page, where we have a wide variety of episodes for you to listen to.

Transcript

Johnny Thomson  00:00

A few years ago, one of our team gave up something really important for someone else and ended up receiving some things she never expected. Hi everyone. I'm Johnny Thomson, and welcome to another episode of our people at the heart podcast, where we like to chat about all kinds of things, both serious and light hearted, connected with our team and our work here at RiskSTOP Group. Now, Sharon Masters, who is one of our surveyors and part of the QC team RebuildCostASSESSMENT.com, made an incredible donation a few years ago, and this generosity actually played back in a very unusual way, in that Sharon received a few accolades she probably never imagined would come her way. Hi, Sharon. How are you?

Sharon Masters  00:50

Hi, Johnny, I'm good. Thank you very much. Nice to be here.

Johnny Thomson  00:53

Now, before we get into all of the mystery that I've alluded to in the introduction, there, for anyone who doesn't already know you, tell me a little bit about your role, your background, how long you've been with us, and so on.

Sharon Masters  01:06

So as you say, I work on the QC team as a surveyor. So I've been with RCA since 2022 and I'm the technical lead for high net worth and listed buildings. I do a lot of site surveys, which I really enjoy. I did actually start in 2021 up on this floor, working with Sorrel as a surveys coordinator. So some of you may know my brother.

Johnny Thomson  01:31

Who is your brother?

Sharon Masters  01:32

Shaun Small is my brother, so the senior risk consultant. So yeah, Shaun's been here forever, and I've always worked in property. I did over a decade in sales and lettings. I did over a decade with the National Trust. As I say, came here in 2021.

Johnny Thomson  01:49

And I mentioned at the start that you gave up something very important for someone else a few years ago. Can you tell me that story?

Sharon Masters  01:56

Yes. So it came about, I've been a blood donor for a very, very long time, and I didn't know you could be a living donor. And I happened to watch a medical show, and this woman was donating her kidney to her boyfriend. So I googled it, did about six months of research, followed people online who donated. It's not a big pool of people. There's only a couple hundred do it every year. There wasn't a lot of people to talk to about it, but found a team in Plymouth and sort of put my name forward, and went from that. Yeah, just from initially seeing it on a documentary. It started from there.

Johnny Thomson  02:32

Yeah. And then was it just the documentary, or was there another reason, or another motivation behind this? Because, I mean, this is quite a thing to do.

Johnny Thomson  02:42

Yeah, and, I mean, what's the impact been on you? What impact does taking a kidney away have on you?

Sharon Masters  02:42

Yeah. I mean, I've always been, my other side, what I do, volunteering wise, I've been over 20 years, St John Ambulance and NHS first responder. So you see that side of people desperately needing help, and you see all the figures come through for people who sadly die every year because they can't get a transplant. We've had a personal experience of that just last year with a close family member who sadly passed away. So it's a very close thing, and once, like any rabbit hole, once you go down it. You can't get out.

Sharon Masters  03:23

So you have the initial, like any post op, because it is a major operation, undertandably, they are removing an organ. It's actually goes against a doctor's ethical code of practice, because normally, of course, you're ill and they operate on you. You've got a well patient who's got everything that they need, and they're going, you can take this from me. And so there's a lot of ethical questions. So there's a mental impact, and then there's the physical of the, you know, I had what they call a left handed nephrectomy, which means they've took the kidney out of my front so I've got big scar along here, and several other scars. And your kidneys, one of the things they do is control your temperature and things like that. So I remember the first few weeks after donating my kidney, my temperature was all over the place because my body was trying to reassert itself and reset itself. But other than that, once you've recovered, you don't know any different. Loads of people only have one kidney and don't know so it doesn't affect you. Once the operation side effects have gone, it's pretty much as normal you'd never know any different to anyone with two kidneys.

Johnny Thomson  04:37

And were you scared? I mean, it's, as you said, it's major surgery. I mean, how did you feel just before?

Sharon Masters  04:43

So they do huge amounts, let's say, there's a lot of process to it, and a lot of testing. And again, because it's an elective surgery, unlike an emergency surgery, where your life depends on it, it's very different. So they've got time, they will literally check you from head to toe and they do that physically. So they make sure you're strong enough to not only survive the surgery, but that your remaining kidney can cope on its own. They give you the statistics. It's 1 in 3000 die under major surgery from donating kidney. So yeah, you do go in with all the best will in the world. They've done every test, and as far as they're concerned, they're happy that you're going to survive it. So you've just now put everything in there hands, but you'd be stupid if you're not scared, because there's no way.

Johnny Thomson  05:34

I'm just wondering, as a kind of, you know, as a risk person, if you like, whether you looked at that 1 in 3000 in a rational way because, actually 1 in 3000 is quite a low risk, isn't it? Let's face it, in a rational sense, but in an emotional sense, you can only focus on the one, don't you?

Sharon Masters  05:50

Yeah. And it's because you're doing it for your own choice as well. So it's not, like I say, it's not like you're going in and they're like, you need to have the surgery, you don't have to do it. So you're coming at it from a different angle, and you've got a lot more time. The build up to surgery is so intense in a good way. You know, there's no stone left unturned. So you have full trust in that. They are 100% sure that, so they check you from head to toe. The scans I had, the amount of blood they took, every sample you could think of they took to check there's absolutely nothing wrong. And they literally give you right up until the moment they put that mask over your nose to say, I don't want to do it.

Johnny Thomson  06:29

And remind me when was this? When did you do this?

Sharon Masters  06:32

So this was June 2021 just before I started here.

Sharon Masters  06:37

So yeah, this is the end of June 25 now.

Sharon Masters  06:41

So just had my anniversary.

Johnny Thomson  06:43

Four years

Sharon Masters  06:43

Four years, yeah

Johnny Thomson  06:44

Donation day, yeah tremendous. And I also mentioned at the beginning that this led to kind of unexpected things coming your way. And that is specifically some medals. Yeah, some medals. You're the proud owner of some medals. So explain that one. What am I talking about there and how did these come about?

Sharon Masters  07:06

So you're talking about the British Transplant Games, which I didn't know existed, because you wouldn't. It's a very niche thing, and it's basically an event that is held every year and involves NHS England and other bodies and all the hospitals across the country get together to hold a games. Athletics, field events, things like Badminton, football, swimming and the majority of the people taking part are all people who've received a transplant. And it goes from tiny little tots to people sort of older than me, yeah, and everybody in between. And then, so they have all the recipients, which is the biggest group. They then have live donors, like myself, all come together. And then the really moving part is then they have the donor families. So those who've actually, when someone's about to lose their life, they are the people who said, yes, you can. We are happy to donate. So they're also there at the games. So they take place every year. A lot of events take place under UK athletic rules. So we've got Team GB members. We've got paralympians as well. So, there's a European and a World Transplant Games as well that go on so every single year. So once you obviously donate, you are eligible to go to these games, which I now do, which is good fun.

Johnny Thomson  08:29

You've been twice. Is that right?

Sharon Masters  08:31

Yes, yeah.

Johnny Thomson  08:31

And you've been a medallist on both occasions?

Sharon Masters  08:34

Yeah

Johnny Thomson  08:34

Come on then, tell me which medals you've won.

Johnny Thomson  08:36

What was the gold for?

Sharon Masters  08:36

So in my first games, I got a gold medal and last year I won a bronze.

Sharon Masters  08:41

This is great fun one. It was an obstacle race. I've got it on video somewhere of all these grown ups running over these little obstacles and tagging each other. It's hilariously fun. It was so much fun. I mean, I haven't laughed so much in a long time.

Johnny Thomson  08:59

And the bronze?

Sharon Masters  09:00

And the bronze was for throwing a cricket ball 51 metres.

Johnny Thomson  09:05

It sounds like such a fantastic event to participate in. When's the next one?

Sharon Masters  09:11

So the next one is the end of July and into August, and we are in Oxford this year. Our opening ceremony is at Blenheim Palace, which I've never been to, so I'm really excited. I'll do a quick rebuild cost on it while I'm there!

Johnny Thomson  09:15

Do people who have received the donations? Do they also attend or not?

Sharon Masters  09:32

Yeah, so that's the majority of the competitors are donor recipients, yeah.

Johnny Thomson  09:37

Right, yeah. So in principle, that person who has your kidney could also be participating in those games.

Sharon Masters  09:46

They could be, they could be. So I know my kidney went up north. I don't know who to.

Johnny Thomson  09:54

Yeah, you don't find out do you?

Sharon Masters  09:55

No, which is absolutely fine. And last year, we were in Nottingham. So I'm like, they could be here. I don't know.

Johnny Thomson  10:00

Yeah, and how does that feel, knowing that there's someone who's walking around and potentially wouldn't have a life and wouldn't be with their family and wouldn't be enjoying, events, happy events like that, without you? How does that make you feel, Sharon?

Sharon Masters  10:19

It's quite moving, actually. So, for those who don't know, if you have kidney failure, they try and manage your diet first, as your kidney starts to, or kidneys, start to get worse, you then go on to dialysis. Once dialysis stops working, the only thing that will give you a survival chance is having a kidney. It's the last resort. So the lady who had my kidney, her kidney was functioning at 10% so she probably had two to three months left to live. Because that's it. She'd had two failed transplants from decedent kidneys. They don't last as long as a living donor kidney. So they gave me, they tested her. They knew what her kidney function was, and then they told me that before I had the operation, literally just before we went into, they went in to take it out. So hers was to say 10% so 60% normal function. Anything above that's great. Anything below that is so so. So she had my kidney, they plumbed it in. They had sort of 12 hours to plum it in. And the surgeon who oversees both operations, even though he's dealing with mine, so you have the best surgeon, they give you the best surgeon in the country to do it. And he said her kidney within a few hours, or my new kidney was functioning at 48% which for her, means she can have more to drink, she can have different foods.

Johnny Thomson  11:50

I can just imagine she must have just felt so much better.

Sharon Masters  11:54

Literally, you are at death's door, and then you've got someone's kidney, and now you're at 48% which it probably hadn't been for about 10 years.

Johnny Thomson  12:02

Probably felt like a mircale, to her, i'd imagine.

Sharon Masters  12:04

Yeah, it's just for them. You're like, good stuff, brilliant.

Johnny Thomson  12:09

I mean, so needless to say, it takes a special person, Sharon, and I'll just say that obviously it takes a special person to do what you've done. What would you say to anyone else who may you know, hear your story, or be aware of living donations. What would you say to anyone who would be thinking about that?

Sharon Masters  12:27

Do your research, which may sound obvious, but there's a lot to it, and it's like, as I said, any rabbit hole, as you go down, there's a lot of things to know and understand. Speak to living donors. I follow and have done my story for another company who have living donor ambassadors. So if people are thinking of donating, they can come and talk to a living donor, because we're the best people to speak to. We've been through it. So yeah, just take your time and just see how it sits, because it is a very big decision.

Johnny Thomson  13:01

Of course, there is another way of being a donor as well, isn't it, and that's the donor card. What about that? Because obviously you're aware of that as an option as well.

Sharon Masters  13:11

Yeah. So I carry mine with me, and you'll probably see, if you follow me on LinkedIn, and things you'll see every so often I'll do, tell your family your wishes, because it sits with them and they don't know if people don't tell them, or if they don't carry the card.

Johnny Thomson  13:27

I think you can register electronically as well, now, can't you?

Sharon Masters  13:30

You can do it on the NHS app. A lot of people, especially if you're doing your driving licence, you can it do on there, on the government website. You can always update it as well. So yeah, there are lots of options to say, the physical card, the online.

Johnny Thomson  13:45

Finally, Sharon, the event that we spoke about, a wonderful event. Presumably, there's some aspect of fundraising and so on connected with that?

Sharon Masters  13:53

Some of the athletes will try and do personal donations. So they'll be doing, Just Giving and things like that. So trying to get personal donations. So I'm part of the Devon and Cornwall transplant team based at Derriford Hospital. So, how it works, and this is individual for our team. I don't know about other teams. The NHS do contribute some. We're waiting, literally, to find out now. So, we pay for everything ourselves first. We give them all of our invoices, and then we'll wait to see how much money they will give us, to see how much we have left, to see if we can raise any more. It's literally, we're just waiting now to find out what that money is going to be.

Johnny Thomson  14:34

Brilliant. Well, anyone listening in, obviously, if you'd like to make a donation to what Sharon's talked about, just find you in the office and get some more information, and maybe we could put something on Iris as well in connection with this, about about that. Other than that, Sharon, I'm just blown away by what you've done, to be honest. You know, one stage of my life I had major surgery and I didn't volunteer for that. And I was, you know, I was very, very nervous about all of that. So to do that voluntarily, I think, is an incredible thing. And I'm delighted you've got your gold and your bronze, and maybe, maybe at the next one, you can get the silver. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you very much. Sharon,

Sharon Masters  15:21

Thank you!

Johnny Thomson  15:23

Brilliant. And thank you very much everyone for listening in. That's pretty much all we have time for for this episode of RiskSTOP Groups People at the Heart podcast. I, along with one or two other presenters, will be back soon with all kinds of things to talk about with different guests. So keep your eyes peeled for more episode announcements on iris, and remember here at RiskSTOP Group, it's all about keeping people safe and secure and believing in social responsibility and sustainability. Until the next time and once again. Sharon, thank you. Goodbye for now.

Sharon Masters  15:58

Bye bye!