The moment that inspired Ikram to become a nurse

Ikram Ahmed still remembers the early morning phone call that changed her brother's life forever. Now she's determined to devote her life to helping others and encouraging people to sign the organ donor register.

Ikram Ahmed in her nurses scrubs.

After watching her younger brother battle with kidney failure for the most part of his childhood, Melbourne woman Ikram Ahmed was inspired to become a nurse.

At age six, Hussein Ahmed was diagnosed with Nephronophthisis, a genetic disorder causing kidney failure.

As a child he was in and out of hospital. He spent two years on dialysis and had a tube feeding through to his stomach as his only method of absorbing nutrients.

It was four years after his diagnosis that his parents received the early morning phone call that would change his life forever.

"I just remember waking up to my mum screaming so loud," Ms Ahmed, now 21, said.

"I ran to where she was ... she was just running up to Hussein's room trying to wake him up and to let him know that he's getting the kidney transplant."

With eight children, it was a joyous moment for the family.

"Everyone was crying out of pure excitement and happiness."

Hussein at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne three days after his surgery.

Hussein received his new kidney at the Royal Children's Hospital shortly after that phone call, and it was the moment Ms Ahmed decided she wanted to become a nurse in order to give back to those who had cared for her brother.

"It was one of the greatest moments of our lives, knowing that he got a transplant, knowing that he has a great team taking care of him and helping him throughout this entire process," she said.

"I wanted to do something for the Australian population, that they've done for my brother, and just help out other families the same way we were all helped out."

I wanted to help out other families the same way we were all helped out.

- Ikram Ahmed, Student nurse

Ms Ahmed is now in her final semester of a Bachelor of Nursing at La Trobe University and is currently undergoing a placement at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Her brother is now a healthy 16-year-old, enjoying high school and working a part-time job at Mcdonald's. But there are almost 2,000 Australians on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

Ikram (left) and Hussein Ahmed in the back garden of their family home in Melbourne. Credit: Supplied

Since the start of the pandemic, possibilities for life-saving surgeries have been even further limited.

Over the past two years, organ donation in Australia has dropped by 25 per cent, and the number of people receiving transplants has dropped by 19 per cent.

While all sectors of the health care system have been hit hard by staff shortages and an increase in COVID-19 patients, health experts say the main impact on organ donations has come from interstate travel restrictions.

"With organ donation, we need teams from across the state and interstate to come and help with the process, that was quite difficult with domestic travel being restrained," said Dr Ramanathan Lakshmana, who is an intensive care specialist at Sydney's Liverpool Hospital.

To become an eligible donor, a person needs to die in hospital, and of those, still only around two per cent meet the requirements for donation.

Professor Helen Opdam, the National Medical Director of the Organ Transplant Authority says it's more likely people will need a transplant in their lifetime than become a donor at the end of life.

"We're all more likely to need an organ transplant than we are ever to be a donor. So it's really important, if we want access to transplantation for ourselves and the people we love, that we'd be willing to also be donors."

This year's Donate Life Week is aiming to do just that, by encouraging Australians to sign up to the Australian Organ Donor Register. Organisers hope to get up to 100,000 new registrations by the end of the week.

This year Donate Life Week are encouraging people to join the Great Registration Race and sign up to the Australian Organ Donor Register. Credit: Supplied

Professor Opdam says it's equally as important to have conversations with your family about your intention to be a donor.

"The family is always involved and ultimately will decide. And families really want to honour the wishes of the person that they love ... so registering is really important because it makes it clear to your family, your decision about organ donation."

For Ms Ahmed, a person's decision to allow their kidney to be donated to her brother is something she thinks about often.

"I don't think any words could describe how much gratitude we all have towards them ... I definitely keep that person in my prayers all the time, them and their family.

"Your registration as an organ or tissue donor can have a major effect on a person's life. It can really help others, like my little brother, to experience the simple joys of everyday life."

DonateLife Week is marked 24-31 July. Sign up to become a donor at donatelife.gov.au