‘THE BEST POSSIBLE CHANCE’
CPL wins title but wants to save dad

By Corporal Simone Liebelt

CPL Lia Halsall from RAAF Base Williams during competition at the ADF Natural Bodybuilding Championship, held at HMAS Cerberus on September 26.

Photo by Brendan Breen

CPL Lia Halsall, who won the tall female figure category, and her husband CPL Daniel Halsall in the 2005 ADF Natural Bodybuilding Championships held at HMAS Cerberus.

photo by AB Nina Nikolin

CORPORAL Lia Halsall is getting “fit for life” by becoming a living organ donor for her seriously ill father.

She made the selfless decision earlier this year after her father, Dennis Rowbottom, suffered complications that resulted in the removal of his first donor kidney. He is now surviving on regular haemodialysis treatments until he can receive a replacement kidney.

In her quest to provide that replacement, Corporal Halsall entered the ADF Natural Bodybuilding and Figure Titles 2005 as a way to get into tip-top physical condition for the possible future surgery.

Also joining her in the competition – held at HMAS Cerberus on September 26 – was her husband, Corporal Daniel Halsall.

In an impressive first achievement, she took first place in the Female Figure Tall category and was equal runner-up in the women’s overall, while her husband came second in both the male short and the men’s novice overall categories.

“I’ve always been interested in the sport, but the driving force behind entering the competition was to simply get the fittest and strongest that I possibly could in preparation for donating my kidney to my father,” she said.

“In full support of my entering the competition, my husband also decided to enter to help make my preparation that little bit easier with dieting and training.

“It gave us a goal to work towards and it’s been a challenging five months to say the least … it’s definitely not a sport for the faint hearted.”

Her next goal is to place at the International Natural Bodybuilding Association’s Victorian Natural Physique titles on October 8, so she can have a chance at competing in the national titles. She said for her first year of competition, it may be a little unrealistic, but certainly not unachievable.

“For a beginner, [the ADF competition] was an excellent starting point, and has been great experience in preparation for bigger and better things next year,” she said.

“While I hope to continue with the sport, I still need to concentrate on what I came here to do. My priority is to give my body and my kidney the best possible chance for surgery by being in the best possible condition, so hopefully my father can get a kidney that’s in tip top condition this time around.”

Suffering from the condition called renal neuropathy, Mr Rowbottom experienced complications with his donor kidney, which had been transplanted six years earlier. The kidney had scar tissuing and had to be removed, leaving him without a functional kidney.
Corporal Halsall said after nearly losing her father, she was determined to try and do something to help.

“I wanted to give him my kidney the first time, but because I was young, female and hadn’t started a family yet, they declined my offer,” she explained.

“Six years later, I still haven’t started a family but I’m a little bit older and a little bit more insistent this time around, so when my father’s doctor said his best option was to find a living donor, I was adamant to be that donor.”

She said the first step was to find out if she was compatible. “The compatibility blood test results took about three weeks to come back – the longest time of my life.

“When my father’s neurologist rang to confirm that I was a likely candidate, there was relief to finally get an answer and shock that it had become a reality, so there were a lot of mixed emotions.”

She said they made the decision to go ahead with full support from the Air Force, particularly No. 1 Recruit Training Unit – where she worked as a Military Skills Instructor, the medical unit at RAAF Base Edinburgh, the Directorate of Personnel – Air Force and the Defence Housing Authority.

Both herself and her husband were granted a preferential treatment posting to RAAF Base Williams, and within two weeks were in location so she could begin further testing at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital.

“I am eternally grateful for being given this opportunity and there aren’t enough words to describe, let alone thank, all those concerned,” she said.

“When I was told about my posting, I just burst into tears out of sheer relief and utter happiness.”

While compatible, she said the road to kidney donation isn’t as straightforward as people may think.

“There are a number of tests and procedures that both myself and my father have to undertake before this can even eventuate,” she said. “We’re just taking it one day at a time as we both know that anything can happen in the meantime and we don’t want to get our hopes up unnecessarily.

“Everyone sees this as a really big deal, but we don’t because there’s a possibility that we won’t even make it as far as the surgery.”

She said anything was worth the risk to give her father a better chance at life.

“The dialysis machine is all that keeps my father alive, so obviously it has a huge impact on his life. If the transplant is successful, it means that Dad can live a normal life on medication, which means less medical appointments, less hospital visits and less interruption to his daily life.”

She said more than anything, this experience has taught her the importance of becoming a registered organ donor.

“Organ donation was never a consideration for me until it affected me personally. It’s a horrible thing to almost wish that someone would die so that your family member can live, but unfortunately there are just not enough organ donors in Australia.

“Now that I’m a donor myself, I know that if I die before my time, my organs could save one or half a dozen different lives which would justify my existence.

“I just hope that through my story, other people might consider registering as a donor, because it’s such an easy thing to do.”

For more information on registering as an organ donor, call the Australian Organ Donor Register on 1800 777 203, or visit http://www.hic.gov.au

Fast facts

Under the Defence Health Directive No. 216, Organ and Tissue Donation by Serving Members:

• Living organ donation includes a kidney, part of a liver or bone marrow. Blood products, sera, sperm, oocytes and embryos are not included.
  
• Where there is no foreseeable detriment to a member’s ability to serve, there is no medical objection to an ADF member donating an organ or tissue.
  
• The donor may need to undergo a Medical Employment Classification (MEC) review if organ donation is likely to result in medical restrictions of more than eight weeks.
  
• Any permanent effect on a member’s deployability would usually only be as a result of complications with the procedure.
  
• The ADF will not normally meet expenses, such as travelling expenses, associated with organ or tissue donation.
  
• Service requirements could preclude a member from being available to donate at certain times, for example, if the member was on operational deployment, posted to a remote locality or during times of national emergency.

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