Our Angels in New South Wales
Our Angel Awards in 2009 - Kidney Health Week
Mr Dennis Bucknell - KHA NSW CPC Representative is a kidney carer and has for many years worked towards better conditions for those affected by kidney disease. His passions are to see better recognition and support for carers, and financial support and subsidies for those travelling the disease to and from dialysis units three times per week for their life saving treatment (particularly those in rural and regional areas.
Mrs Melissa Darnley - KHA NSW CPC Representative has never let having the life-changing diagnosis of chronic kidney disease get in her way. She is an active member of the kidney community and a friend to many, using her far-reaching kidney ‘Australian Dialysis Buddies' to link up with other with CKD. Melissa was a home ‘dialyser’ (a term she prefers to ‘patient’) until recently receiving a kidney transplant. Between working part-time, being a ‘samba blissta’ in a dance band and a shoulder to lean for others, she has lovingly put together a collection of stories from people with kidney problems andtheir families of how they live well with kidney disease entitled ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – personal accounts of people living with kidney failure.’ Melissa continues to contribute to the kidney community through consumer representation on the NSW Consumer Participation Committee and the Home Dialysis Advisory Group.
Mr Evan Eggins - Chair KHA NSW CPC Representative represents NSW on our National Consumer Participation Committee (NCPC), and Consumer Rep on Kidney Check Australia Taskforce (KCAT) and Dialysis Nephrology Transplant (DNT) Committee. Evan works tirelessly to improve the life of people affected by kidney disease and is a regular presenter for groups such as Rotary.
Ms Jacqui Devlin - KHA NSW CPC Representative has made an outstanding contribution to those affected by kidney disease. She has managed the NSW arm of the Dialysis Escape Line, coordinating day trips and holidays away for dialysis patients and their partners. Jacqui has always been available to speak at the NSW Consumer Forums, always presenting a positive outlook and her fundraising efforts are never ending.
Mr Brad Rossiter - KHA NSW CPC Representative and founding member of the Eurobodalla Renal Support Group. Despite many health setbacks, he works tirelessly for his local community creating awareness of chronic kidney disease, organ donation and transplantation. Recently Brad received an award from Gift of Life Incorporated for his efforts in the promotion of organ donation awareness.
Mrs Karissa Freestone - New England Health/Wansey Centre has tirelessly worked as a renal social worker for many years, but recently Karissa has gone above and beyond in her role. She facilitates carers/patient support groups providing invaluable information for people affected by kidney disease. She is heavily involved with the Hunter and Northern Kidney Association (HANKA) to provide them with knowledge and sharing her skills. She is the only renal social worker in NSW to put advance care plans into place. Most recently, she began running an adjustment program to provide patients with support and comfort with moving forward with their treatment.
Our Angel Awards in 2008 - our 40th Anniversay Year
Professor Jeremy Chapman has shown leadership, expertise, determination and persistence in establishing the NSW Renal Services Network as part of the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce with particular reference to the development and acceptance of the NSW Renal Dialysis Service Plan to 2011.
Ray Cox’s - his wife has been on dialysis for nine years and he brings her to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for dialysis three times a week. Ray is an inspiration, as despite the problems his wife has gone through he continues to smile, care for others and never feel sorry for himself. He is continually trying to help all patients, relatives and staff in every little way possible, including making cups of tea, getting the newspaper and generally making sure all the patients are comfortable.
Elizabeth Craig - Sydney Children’s Hospital and children’s dialysis nurse. Liz has worked in the Wards but also as a dialysis nurse for our Kidney Kids Camps, organising, operating and then dismantling temporary dialysis units at the camp sites ensuring our Kidney Campers dialysis needs are met.
Jill Farquhar - Dialysis Nurse at our Kidney Kids Camps since the first in 1986. She is still a dialysis nurse for kids at Westmead Children’s Hospital. She worked very hard at every camp including setting up, running, and dismantling temporary dialysis units at the camp sites amd always ensures each kid’s dialysis requirements are met.
Doctor Stephen May - Hunter New England Area Health Service, Tamworth has been the lynch pin of Renal Services for the past 18 years. Over this period of time he has shown a dedication over and above the usual call of duty. He has been instrumental in implementing a high standard of renal care and is greatly respected by colleagues and patients alike.
Derani Morgan trained at Sydney Hospital and worked in the Renal Unit until the move to Royal North Shore Hospital in 1983. In 1984 she was appointed nurse manager of the renal transplant unit from 1985 until the service restructured in the mid 90s. She then took on the role of case manager until retirement in 2006. Deraniis passionate about the role of kidney transplantation in improving quality of life and worked tirelessly to ensure good outcomes for her patients. Many long term patients appreciated the continuity of care because she was there for them for more than 30 years. Derani was an advocate of patient education and the importance of promoting self management. She was also involved in nurse education, and many of today’s nephrology nurses learned from Derani. In the late 80s, Derani had the vision of a professional association for transplant nurses. Heart, liver, pancreas and bone marrow transplantation were becoming accepted treatments, so she wanted to unite and support nurses working in this demanding speciality. Derani was one of the inaugural members of the Transplant Nurses Association and gave the welcome address at the first conference in 1990.
Jane Nicholson has worked at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for close to 25 years, where she has mainly worked in renal. Jane is currently the hospital’s Renal Case Manager and constantly demonstrates a high quality of nursing care to all her patients and their relatives. Her extensive renal knowledge makes her a great resource to staff and patients. Jane is extremely patient and dedicated to her job.
Christine Pollock Manager of Renal Unit at Tweed Heads Hospital, she always goes the extra mile for all her staff and patients by organising trips and special events to make the unit a welcoming place to visit and has always been only too happy to help renal patients in any emergency. Chris is loved and respected by all who know her.
Doctor Shelley Tranter is a dedicated nephrology nurse consultant and makes a difference to patients and their families’ lives through predialysis educational clinics. Shelley is also involved in the professional development of renal nursing staff, facilitates several practice development groups to improve the delivery of care and patient outcomes. She is also involved in the 'haemodialysis models of care project' through reviewing the primary nurse model which focused on changing the health care environment in haemodialysis by developing nurse work organisational skills and patient care practices. Shelley is the nurse rep on the Renal Services Network Executive, is involved with the Renal Society of Australasia, Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce - Renal Network Services, and Chair of several renal workshops and educational days.
Geoff Youdale - transplant recipient who has served on a number of committees, which include the NSW Consumer Participation Committee, Kidney Check Australia Taskforce and is also a member of the NSW Renal Services Network as part of the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce, which was instrumental to the development of the NSW Renal Dialysis Service Plan to 2011. Geoff is also Chair of the Dialysis Transport Working Group, a subgroup of the NSW Renal Services Network specifically dedicated to addressing dialysis transport issues. He has shown dedication, determination and persistence in working towards the improvement of all issues and conditions that relate to those affected by chronic kidney disease.
Our KHA Angel Awards in 2006
Heather Edgell is a mother of two as well as a grandmother, commenced on home haemodialysis before 
receiving a transplant over two decades ago. She is a founding member of NSW Renal Association and NSW Transplant Sports Association (now Transplant Australia). Heather has held executive committee positions for both Associations and was President of the Renal Association and NSW Secretary of Transplant Australia. Heather is often a guest speaker at patient awareness and education days. She has competed at many National and International Transplant Games.
Heather is always fundraising, helping others and taking calls from people who need someone to talk to. At one stage, she also ran the Macarthur Disabled Bowling Association.
Lisa Forbes has lived with CKD since the mid-1980s when she was diagnosed. She commenced peritoneal dialysis not long after her dialysis. Lisa had a transplant which was successful for many years but unfortunately failed in the late-1990s and she has been on dialysis ever since. As a child on dialysis, Lisa attended the NSW Kidney Kids Camps. In later years, she fundraised for the camps and has also attended the camps as a volunteer. Lisa has been a Kidney Health Australia volunteer for many years, working in our Sydney office undertaking clerical duties, helping co-ordinate the Xmas gift-wrapping program, participating in the Kidney Connect program both as a carer and as a peer support.
She has been trained to speak for the Australian Red Cross on organ donation. Whilst attending university, she studied transplant education extensively. She is currently a member of the NSW Consumer Participation Committee, the NSW Renal Association and Transplant Australia. Lisa has participated in the Shepparton Transplant Games as a transplant recipient and also the Wollongong Transplant Games whilst on dialysis.
Lisa has always worked fulltime. She recently travelled to France and other parts of Europe by herself. Just prior to her trip, Lisa had to have her failed transplant removed but she was determined not to cancel her trip. With lot of determination she was able to continue with her travel plans only a few short weeks after her operation. Lisa is an inspiration for any young person with CKD - she has never let it beat her.
Dr John Mahony has been involved in renal transplantation since 1967 when the first deceased kidney donor at 
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney was identified for the new Sydney University transplant program at Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospitals. He trained in nephrology at the University of Colorado Medical Centre in Denver 1968-1970, including 16 months support for the surgical program of Tom Starzl, a pioneer in transplantation. Dr Mahony returned to Sydney Hospital in 1970 to work with Dr John Stewart and Professor Ross Sheil and became Head of the Renal Unit there in 1979.
In 1983 when the Sydney Hospital Renal Unit moved to Royal North Shore Hospital, he introduced renal transplantation to Northern Sydney and has now been involved in nearly 1000 renal transplants. For the past 35 years the results of renal transplantation at the Sydney Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital have been among the best in Australia and the world.
Dr Mahony's specific interests in renal transplantation include long-term patient and graft survival. His research interests have included identification of and reducing the risks of cardiovascular complications in renal failure and renal transplant recipients and clinical trials of new immunosuppressive drugs as they become available. He was a Councillor of the Transplant Society of Australia and New Zealand and Executive Officer of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology. His other professional interests include training patients for home haemodialysis, and initiating satellite dialysis units in outer Sydney and NSW rural base hospitals.