Kate Died for 15 Minutes, Then An Organ Donor Gave Her a Second Chance At Life

"Can you imagine what it’s like waiting for a new body part?"

This post is presented in partnership with Donor Mate.

It is all too easy to take our bodies for granted, particularly when we are healthy. For many of us, our bodies simply carry out the specific functions necessary for everyday living, and we get on with our usual activities without a second thought. 

However, it’s important to remember that not everyone gets that same luxury. In fact, there are currently around 1,700 people in Australia waiting for a transplant that’ll save their life.

Kate Hansen was one of those people. As she tells Student Edge, she’d had an ordinary start to her morning on her 32nd birthday in 2018. Later that day, she had to be brought back to life by paramedics.

"You might think that’s a metaphor, or a young woman being melodramatic," she says.

"It’s not. I was dead for 15 minutes. The paramedics did everything they could. They worked on me for 90 minutes and saved my life."

Kate, who has had Type 1 diabetes since she was four, had been on the organ transplant list for seven years.

"To look at me, you wouldn’t know there was anything wrong with my body," she explains.

"I was earning a six-figure salary working in real estate, travelling the world, and living in the heart of Melbourne.

"Then I noticed my kidneys weren’t functioning properly. Things went from bad to worse and I developed Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome, which caused the left side of my brain to swell. I had a seizure and crashed my car."

As a result of the crash, Kate damaged both her kidney and pancreas to such a serious extent that she required a double transplant.

She also had to have dialysis three times a week and was taken off the transplant list every time she fell ill.

Kate recalls how challenging it was waiting for the phone call to inform her whether they’d found an organ donor for her. Although, she also considered what it would mean for her organ donor’s family. 

"Can you imagine what it’s like waiting for a new body part?" she asks.

"Wondering every time the phone rings, is this the day I get my new kidney and pancreas?

"Knowing too, the inevitable, that the day my life changes and I get that long-awaited gift, is the worst day imaginable for another family? It means someone’s son, mother, brother or sister has died."

Fortunately for Kate, she finally got the call in 2019 that a family had agreed to donate their loved one’s organs.

"I was given the gift of life—a second time—through a new kidney and pancreas," she says.

"I don’t know who that person was, and I don’t know that family, but they live with me every day. I call them my beautiful donor family, and I’ve had an angel tattooed on my body to celebrate them."

Pictured: Kate Hansen (supplied).

As Kate explains, receiving a double transplant totally changed her outlook on life, and she started to focus more on the little things.

"I remember being able to wee for the first time in eight years! And being able to clean the house, those things that we take for granted until you can no longer do them," she says.

"I used to live my life trying to climb the corporate ladder, focused on work and earning as much money as I could. Dying, getting so sick I could no longer go to the toilet or walk to the shops changed all that.

"I’m still ambitious, but now my ambition is about living the best life I can."

With DonateLife Week taking place from Sunday 26 July to Sunday 2 August, Kate wants to encourage people to register to become organ and tissue donors.  

"This week is DonateLife Week, a week in which we encourage as many people as possible to talk about organ and tissue donation with family and friends and to register to become a donor. Doing these two things could help save the lives of up to seven people," she says.

"So, this week I set you a challenge. Watch the Dying to Live trailer, learn about organ donation, and have a conversation with someone about it. It’s a topic we don’t like to talk about, but these conversations can save lives.

"I know, because they saved mine."

C’mon, mate! Register to be an organ donor today. What are you waiting for? It won’t kill you. But when something else does, your bits and pieces could help save the lives of 10 or more other Aussies. How cool is that? Register now.

Header Image: Supplied