Jess van Slooten: Christchurch health and safety expert explains the importance of organ donation

Jess van Slooten is among the hundreds of Kiwis whose life was saved by receiving an organ transplant.

At 22, she was diagnosed with a serious lung condition - which required a lung transplant.

She says receiving the transplant has allowed her to continue to live a normal life and enjoy her favourite outdoor activities again. 

"I've been skiing, I've been climbing mountains - lots of adventurous things that I just never would have been able to believe I could have done."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb to something I'm not sure that we talk enough about.
At just twenty two years old, key We, Jess fan
Sluten was diagnosed with a serious lung condition. Her only
hope was a lung transplant. This weekend, Jess is among
other recipients saying thank you to all those who make
organ donation possible, and jessvan Sluten is with me now,

(00:31):
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Jess, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Can you tell me a little bit about your situation
what you were facing when you were twenty two?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, I guess I just graduated from university, you know,
just looking at what I was going to do for
my career, and then got really breathless and then got
diagnosed with this terrible lung disease, which meant that eventually
I would need a lung transplant.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
What is it like knowing that a transplant is your
only hope?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's pretty scary, I think, especially when when you're young,
you're kind of like, oh, I've got my whole life
ahead of me, Like what why do I have to
have this now? And you know, I was pretty confronting
I think, But you know, obviously I didn't have it
straight away, but it was pretty scary to think. You know.
When I got my diagnosis of my lung disease, I

(01:22):
googled it as you do, and it kind of said
it's a fatal disease affecting young woman in the prime
of their lives. So that was pretty confronting when I
first saw that.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Absolutely, So then what is it like to get the
news that a donor has become available?

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Oh? Like it was? It was. I guess it was
the moment I've been building up to for a number
of years. And then when I got the call to
go on to hospital late one evening, it was pretty awesome.
I guess I was pretty tired and just really ready
for that, for that new life to come, but just
went into it knowing that it was going to be

(01:57):
amazing out the other side, and it really has been.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, tell me a little bit about what the transplant
has done for you in your life, Tans.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
I think, as some of these things tend to do,
they tend to upend you, up end your life and
change things in different directions. And since transplant almost five
years ago, I've been you know, skiing, climbing mountains, lots
of adventurous things that I just never would have been
able to believe that I could have done. You know,

(02:29):
just to talk and walk and breathe at one time,
I guess was amazing. But to actually be able to
do all these adventurous things I'd long dreamed of has
been pretty special.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
And congratulations you're getting married soon. Something like that that
really highlights that the extra life that a transplant gives.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, thank you, No, absolutely, this in a week getting married,
which is you know, lots going on, but just so
amazing and special to be able to do that, Jess.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
The kindness afforded to you by a stranger, Is it
something that you've reflected on a lot since the transplant?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Absolutely? I think I take a lot of time to
reflect now on just what has enabled me to achieve
what I've been able to and just the unbelievable decision
of someone in such a stressful situation to make that
gift and enable me to live my life as just
absolutely incredible. I mean I could ever repay that, but

(03:27):
definitely take the moment to give thanks and reflect on
that journey.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
I think organ donation is a conversation. We don't like
to have too much with our loved ones, do we,
But as someone who has benefited so greatly from it,
is it a conversation you would urge us all to have.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I would absolutely urge everyone to have that conversation because
if your loved ones know that that's what you want
to do should something happen, then it's one less thing
that they really have to think about at a time
of immense stress. So definitely encourage everyone to have that conversation.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, I hope the next week isn't too stressful leading
up to the wedding. Where are you getting married?

Speaker 3 (04:05):
A getting married in Auckland at Deer Valley And yeah,
it was a small group of people for just really
looking forward to that special day.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Wonderful. We'll have a wonderful day. And thank you so
much for sharing your story with us. That was Jess
van Slutin. There.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks the b from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.