My sister and I: A story about life and second chances

In my sister's new book Confessions of a Kidney Transplant Recipient, I am a chapter. Several years ago at Christmas, she gave me the chapter, a rough draft, as a gift. For a gift so personal, I treated it nonchalantly by politely thanking her and placing it to one side. I kept thinking if it were my story, I'm not so sure I'd share it so openly, but that's my sister.

Friends have called my sister, Mary, a little firecracker, as a compliment. She's outgoing and has a quick wit. She loves to travel and live life to the fullest. For her 30th birthday last August, she wanted to celebrate with a hot-air balloon ride. (I'm not as daring.)

She's not afraid to tell the world her story. She was born with renal failure. She had her first kidney transplant at the age of five and a second when she was 12. Her life and our family's history for so long revolved around hospitals, doctors and survival. There was a shortage of organs available for donation and a lengthy waiting list for the ones they had.

Despite the adversities she's faced, Mary considers herself lucky. She tackled the book with chutzpah. She blogged a chapter a month, sometimes more. The book, back then just a seed, became a marathon project and as much about her journey as a kidney transplant recipient as it is about hope and inspiration. It is also about public awareness.

Here in Hong Kong, the waiting list for organ donations remains lengthy. Case in point: according to the Department of Health as of December 31, the waiting list of 1,808 people for kidneys is the longest among organ/tissue recipients.