By CASEY NEILL
CRANBOURNE MP Jude Perera needs a kidney.
A transplant the 62-year-old received five years ago has failed so he needs regular dialysis to filter his blood – the work his kidney used to do.
But he’s vowed to keep serving his community and plans to recontest the seat at the next election.
“I was brought up in a political house back in Sri Lanka. I enjoy being in politics – of course the left side of the political spectrum,” he said.
“I like to help out people by representing them in Parliament.”
Mr Perera, who moved to Australia with his wife and two children in 1988, unsuccessfully stood for Cranbourne in the 1999 election.
He won the seat in 2002 and has held onto it throughout his health battle.
“The diagnosis was chronic kidney disease. There’s a long medical term I can’t pronounce it,” he said, laughing.
“It was scarring of the kidneys.
“My cousin from Sri Lanka was generous enough to donate a kidney. She came over here.
“The transplant was good for a while and after that it failed.
“I’m on dialysis now. I’m getting myself trained to do it at home.
“In the next few weeks I’ll be doing it at home in the night time, so it won’t hinder my daytime routine.”
His current dialysis sessions take five hours.
“At home you can do it in eight hours and the longer you can do dialysis the better it is for you,” he said.
Mr Perera said the condition didn’t affect his ability to serve the community.
“I haven’t taken any extra responsibility in the caucus,” he said.
He said he regularly doorknocked and called constituents to keep abreast of local issues – all while waiting for the transplant call.
“They don’t put a time limit. It could be two years, it could be three, five. It depends on availability,” he said.
“My wife has put her hand up but she’s not a match.”
But she’s on a ‘pairing’ list.
“Every six months the transplant unit at Monash go through their list and work out which donor suits which recipient,” Mr Perera said.
“They are people who are happy to donate a kidney to somebody else and in return have their recipient take a kidney.
“If someone’s kidney is suitable for me, and if my wife’s kidney is suitable for the nominated person of that donor, then it will go ahead.
“They tend to do it on the same day otherwise somebody could back out!”
