Son puts dad before his childhood dreams

Every second night before bed, Evan Smith hooks himself up to a dialysis machine to clean his blood.

The 59-year-old former high school teacher sticks needles in his arm and then drifts off to sleep.

For the next eight hours, blood flows out of his body through tubes, into a filter attached to the machine, and then back into his body.

The blood goes round and round through the filter, like it would in a normal kidney, filtering out waste products and excess fluid.

By the time Evan wakes up, the kidney machine has done its job.

This treatment is called haemodialysis and for the past seven years, it has kept Evan alive. Soon, he won’t need it any more. Soon, he can leave his Hamilton home and visit members of his wha¯nau in other parts of the country, without having to rush back after just one night away.

Last week Evan got a call from a nurse. It was the call he never thought would come.

He is getting a new kidney.

A match has been found.

His son, Vyron.

Evan (Nga¯i Te Rangi) says he could not believe it at first because after relying on dialysis for so long, ‘‘you sort of think, well, this is my life now’’.

It isn’t the first time Vyron Smith has stepped up to help his wha¯nau.

Back when his dad was first diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease, Vyron was a promising young rugby player with dreams of playing professionally.

After two seasons with North Harbour in the Mitre 10 Cup, he planned to travel to Europe and play there.

But then his older brother, Jermaine, living in Melbourne, had two heart attacks.

Jermaine weighed more than 200 kilograms at the time and needed to lose weight fast.

Vyron ditched his Europe plans and flew to Australia instead. He moved in with his brother and became his personal trainer.

That was in 2019. Jermaine now weighs 98kg.

He credits his little brother with saving his life.

‘‘He was going through a tough time and I am just glad I could be there and help him,’’

Vyron says. Vyron worked as a personal trainer while in Australia and was still playing rugby, including a stint at the Melbourne Rebels.

Last year he moved to Sydney to play in the Shute Shield, a semiprofessional club competition, with the aim of eventually making the New South Wales Waratahs.

Back home in New Zealand, his dad still had not found a kidney donor, and it was not looking promising.

‘‘When Covid hit, I had to think about what is important, and I have always known that my family is important and our health and looking after ourselves is important. So, that is when I started going through the testing,’’ Vyron says.

From April last year to April this year, the 30-year-old underwent extensive tests to see if he could donate one of his kidneys to his dad. He moved back to New Zealand.

Then last Friday, the Smith family got the news they had anxiously been waiting for.

Vyron was a match. The transplant could work.

There were tears and lots of emotion.

Evan says this new kidney could give him another 10 or 20 years.

‘‘That was amazing, that day we found out ... I think we were just jumping around saying: it’s a match, it’s a match!’’

He appreciates and is ‘‘so grateful’’ for the sacrifices Vyron has made. Donating a kidney means he can never play rugby again. Or any other contact sport.

‘‘We didn’t ask any of the kids if they wanted to be a donor. He just put his hand up and said: I can do it, dad, I’ll do it.

‘‘That is the sort of young man he is. We are pretty proud of him.

‘‘He has sacrificed part of his life to do this.’’

According to Kidney Health New Zealand, one in 10 New Zealanders have some form of kidney disease.

However, of those roughly half a million people, only 50,000 know about it.

And so each year about 900 people present with end-stage kidney disease and require either a transplant, dialysis treatment, or conservative care.

Evan says he did not know he had kidney problems until it was too late. ‘‘I was brought up in the Mormon Church and so I have never drunk alcohol, never smoked.

‘‘And so it was a bit of a surprise that my kidneys just crashed because of my diabetes.’’

He says the hardest part about being on dialysis is staying positive. ‘‘A lot of guys get depressed. ‘‘Depression is a big thing. ‘‘You have got to motivate yourself to do it, to stay alive.’’

Evan says you can’t just rely on the dialysis machine either. You have to be strict about eating the right foods, taking your tablets at the right times, and keeping as active as possible. He has done all of that.

‘‘I want to be around a bit longer to be with my grandkids and for them to know me. I don’t want to die too young.’’

There are, on average, about 200 kidney transplants each year in New Zealand from living and deceased donors.

About 450 people are on the waitlist at any given time for a transplant from a deceased donor.

People can wait up to five years before they find a match.

There is no waitlist for live transplants. People have to actively look for a suitable donor.

Vyron and Evan’s kidney transplant operation is in Auckland on November 26.

Two weeks before, Vyron will be running 75 kilometres from Bowentown to Mt Maunganui to raise awareness and support for kidney disease.

His wha¯ nau is from Tauranga Moana, it is where he grew up.

Mauao is his maunga and that is where the run will finish.

Vyron (Nga¯ i Te Rangi, Nga¯ ti Ranginui) is the youngest of six children.

He says he saw firsthand growing up how often health is put on the back burner.

He lost an uncle to kidney disease and diabetes.

He wants to use this next stage of his life to promote health and wellbeing in the community.

Vyron says his dad has always looked after the family first.

He wants him to use this second chance to look after himself.

He says he is excited for his parents to be able to go away on weekends and spend quality time with their children and mokopuna.

There are 13 grandchildren in the Smith family, soon to be 15.

As for his own sacrifices, Vyron says, at the end of the day, rugby is just a sport.

Seeing his older brother recover from his heart attacks and change his life in Melbourne, and thinking about what this kidney transplant will soon mean for his dad, ‘‘that makes me happier than thinking about a rugby career’’.

‘‘My wha¯ nau and my friends – they always come first.’’

‘‘I want to be around a bit longer to be with my grandkids.’’

Evan Smith