The Ballad of Billy The Kidney

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Stan Whippy Ritova

Stan Whippy Ritova, titled Ratu Viliame Ritova (1935-2009) was a noted  journalist in Australia and in his home nation of Fiji.

He stood for the welfare and rights of kidney patients in Fiji.

Paradoxically, the shortage of facilities in his home country was to eventually force him to move to Australia.  From this base he continued his journalistic career up to the time of his death.

His work eventually led to the eventual establishment of the first kidney dialysis centre in Fiji in 2008. (2008!)

-----

Obituaries in:

• Fiji Times Online
• Sydney Morning Herald

Anshoo Mala Chandra, New Dialysis Centre to Save Lives, Fiji Government Online Portal, 27th May 2008

Image credit: the image of Stan Whippy Ritova with the non-elected and self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, is from the Fiji Government Online Portal of 27th May 2008

Location of the Fijian Islands via Google Maps

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History > Janine Murphy

This month's nomination for Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History goes to a lady who demonstrated that you can still rise to great works in your chosen field - sometimes even with chronic illness.

Janine Murphy was the late Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australian Mint.  It appears from her obituary notices that she had had a long-term illness, no doubt leading to her liver transplant.

People sometimes assume that you can't be a contributing member of society - in a salaried or non-salaried way - if you have a chronic illness.  But there are plenty of people who demonstrate the opposite.

Obituary notice in

• The website of the Royal Australian Mint

• The Brisbane Times

----------

• Image credit: from the prospectus of the XXVI Mint Directors' Conference, Canberra 2010

Great figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant history: James A Michener

James A Michener (1907-1997) was an American author who, in the words of Wikipedia,

...[wrote] more than 40 titles [ie books], the majority of which are novels of sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in a particular geographic locale and incorporating historical facts into the story as well.

Michener travelled extensively, and his experiences are interwoven into his words.  Visit the Hawaiian Islands (other than Waikiki Beach) and you will get a glimpse of this.

Michener died in his 90th year following his decision to discontinue dislysis treatment. 

In the limited time I had to research this article I was unable to learn how long he had kidney troubles (whether this was an old-age condition or whether it had been present for longer) - if any reader happens to know (and can cite a reference) then the readers and the writer of this blog would be pleased to learn.

There is a huge amount of material on James  A Michener in the World Wide Web.  May I scratch the surface by suggesting the following:

• Academy of Achievement : biography of James A Michener
• University of Northern Colorado > James A Michener Library. : This is one of the campus libraries of the institutional successor to his old school, the Colorado State College of Education.
• The Michener Collection of the University of Northern Colorado : Built and extended upon Michener's first donations of his papers to his old school in 1978
• State Library of New South Wales [Australia] : listing of material by or about James A Michener
• The James A Michener Society
• The James A Michener Art Museum of Doylestown PA USA
• United States Postal Service issue of 59c James A Michener stamp in May 2008
• BrainyQuote : quotations by James A Michener. I particularly like this one:

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

-----

• The picture at the top of this post is from the website of the Presedential Medal of Freedom.
  

Great figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History: Kumantjayi Perkins

Reader advisory:  Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following post includes an image of a person since deceased.

Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History: John Bunny

May I introduce John Bunny (1863-1915) - acknowledged as the first American comedy actor in silent films, and the next in this fortnightly series.

A native of New York City, Bunny gained his show business experience in a minstrel show and in vaudeville before entering the movie business.

In a short film career of 6 years to 1915, he made a considerable name as a comedic actor.  He is acknowledged as the first comedy actor of the American screen. 

He made 260 shorts with Flora Finch between 1910 and 1915, which were known as 'Bunnygraphs', 'Bunnyfinches', and 'Bunnyfinchgraphs.'

John Bunny died in 1915 at the peak of his career, from Bright's Disease - the old name for glomerulo-nephritis. As with earlier figures in this series, this was long before medical technology had given us dialysis and transplantation.

By the way, I recognise that the 3 people in this series had all lived before dialysis and transplantation.  i do not wish to make my readers glum, so please be assured that in the next few fortnights i will be including peopel who have lived full lives and made useful contributions to humankind thanks to this technology.

Items on the web documenting John Bunny include:

• The above item is the film Troublesome Secretaries (1911), posted by bayougrande on YouTube (high-speed connection required to view video).
• Wikipedia article on John Bunny
• Internet Movie DataBase entry on John Bunny
• allmovie article on John Bunny
• Obituary in Variety magazine, 30th April 1915 (transcription on the website of Michael Carl O'Neill)
• John Bunny > Film's first king of comedy (fan site built by Tony Susnick)

-----

• The picture at the top of this page is from Silent Ladies & Gents.
• Would you like to suggest a famous person for this series?

Vale: Alan Waddell (1914-2008)

Its never too late to exercise, as is illustrated by the example of Mr Alan Waddell.

Mr Waddell, who has recently passed away at the age of 94, took up walking at the age of 88 to ward off potential blood clots in the legs.

From this, he graduated to walking across every street in the greater Sydney area - no mean feat for a city about 80 km north to south and at least 60 km east to west.

Mr Waddell deserves salutation for being a shining example of the value of exercise.

• Obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald.

• The picture of the late Mr Alan Waddell in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House at the top of this post comes from Walk Sydney Streets. 

An extraordinary act of selflessness: the family of Doujon Zammit

When a family is confronted by the brain-death of a loved one, the grief must be hugely enormous.

Death in the family is bad enough.  When the victim still seems to be breathing and is warm to the touch, it must truly be unbearable.

This must be one reason why donation rates in Australia are so low.

So the family of Doujon Zammit have made a huge and wonderful decision in agreeing for him to be an organ donor.

What grief they must be feeling; one minute he's a vibrant energetic young man, the next minute he is the victim of a vicious and fatal bashing.

In this cataclysmic event, the family chooses to make this donation.

How breathtakingly brave and wonderful.  And what a wonderful way to honour this young man's memory.

• Article in the Times of Malta of 4th August 2008.
• Article in the Sydney Morning Herald of 15th August 2008.
• The picture of Doujon Zammit (centre) is from the Times of Malta.

2 days to go!

I now have only 2 days to go, and am busily shutting out thoughts such as "WHAT AM I DOING?" or wondering whether my will is up to date.

On the plus side, I now have 2 more Sponsors on board, and have hit 95% of my target of AUD $100.

I am  very grateful to my Sponsors for getting me to this target.

Vale: Olive Riley (1899-2008)

This is probably a little bit off topic, but I would lile to pay homage to the memory of the world's oldest blogger (or "blobber", as she called them) - Olive Riley, who passed away recently at Woy Woy in my home State's central coast, at the ripe old age of 108.

She was the subject of 2 weblogs, and had a readership that extended around the world.

A very nice obituary was published on July 15 in the Sydney Morning Herald.

• World's Oldest Blogger
• The Life of Riley
• The picture of Olive Riley at the head of this post is from The Life Of Riley.