Mrs Fatimah Yahya, 46, sat on a cold uncomfortable steel chair not once letting go of the handphone in her hand. She gazed into emptiness, waiting for the call that could change her life forever.

Then at exactly 11.30 am, her handphone rang. She placed it to her ear and listened nervously for the expected confirmation."Mrs Fatimah, we have a match!" said the excited voice in the phone.

Mrs Fatimah was stunned, paralysed in delight. A match! For 18 years she had waited to hear those exact words, never to realize that her wait would end. Mrs Fatimah is a kidney failure patient.

Everyday, thousands more like her, await for similar phonecalls. Many died waiting.

Mrs Fatimah have seen many of her friends passed on without ever tasting the sweetness of living, free from the mundane and painful dialysis treatments they were cursed with to their deaths.

Twenty-four hours after that memorable phonecall, Mrs Fatimah paced nervously in her ward, anxious and hopeful about the long awaited operation.

A casual observer would never realized what a new kidney means to people like her.

It means no more painful needles forced up your veins, no more nauseating dialysis treatments, no more restraining oneself to only about 500ml of water each day, no more cancellation of holiday trips simply because one's destination provides no dialysis treatment. A new kidney liberates a patient from that earthly prison.

"Finally, I can go to Mecca without needing to waste time on dialysis treatments," she said, smiling with childish enthusiasm.

At about 1 pm, nurses escorted Mrs Fatimah to the operating theatre. A five-hour long wait followed. Her husband, her mother, her son and her siblings feared for the worst.

Normally, a kidney transplant would not take this long but at about 7pm their fears were abated when Mrs Fatimah emerged from the theatre, unconscious on her trolley bed.

Initially the operation was a success. Mrs Fatimah showed no reactions to it and doctors detected no major complications until three days later when she complained of abdominal pains.

Doctors rushed into the isolation room, wondering and searching for all possible causes. After three thorough body scans, the doctors still could not decipher the problem and so at mid-night, a decision was made to conduct a physical examination.

Mrs Fatimah needed to be operated on again. Her husband suppressed his fear and relented.

Four and a half hours later, the results were turned in. The kidney failed ……

"This is worse than death," Mrs Fatimah said, wiping away tears.