By Jesse Graham
It was a miraculous turnaround to a near-death situation six years ago that put photojournalist Andrew Chapman on the course to open his photo exhibition in Healesville.
Mr Chapman said that after living for years with haemochromatosis, a genetic condition that leads to an iron overload, his liver failed “catastrophically” at the end of 2010.
“I spent two months slowly dying and getting yellower and yellower,” he told the Mail on Monday 20 February.
After being transferred to the Austin Hospital’s liver transplant unit from The Alfred hospital and waiting for a transplant to come, Mr Chapman was placed in a medically-induced coma for five days, which, without a liver, would have been his last.
“With two days left to live, I was lucky enough to receive a liver,” he said.
After the surgery, using his skills as a photojournalist, a profession he’s worked in for over 40 years, Mr Chapman contacted Donate Life to express his interest in volunteering.
What followed was a photo project, to “document the pathway of an organ transplant from beginning to end”.
“Getting the permissions from everybody and getting everybody on board was … a logistical red-tape nightmare,” he said.
In the end, the project went ahead – he photographed a corneal transplant at the Eye and Ear Hospital, then a liver transplant last year.
The liver was donated to Bayswater man Nick King, and Professor Robert Jones – who undertook Mr Chapman’s own transplant – was part of the medical team involved.
During the shoot, Mr Chapman said he photographed the medical team, the surgery and the person who donated their liver in their final moments of life.
“It was quite an experience, and probably one of the toughest things that I’ve ever done,” he said.
“It’s really implicit that you really need to take care how you do it, and not do it insensitively, and I think I succeeded in that.
“I guess, with this whole project, I was emotionally involved and very, very personally involved with the whole process.”
He said even the corneal transplant was a similar experience for him, having undergone eye surgery before his liver transplant because of a viral infection.
“I nearly died – fortunately, I didn’t – I had a liver transplant and I even had a lot of eye surgery,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve been in the shoes of the patients in the three sequences.”
The exhibition Giving Life was opened on Saturday 18 February at Healesville’s Memo Hall, and features the photographs from the transplants.
Mr Chapman said the opening was “very positive”, with Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister speaking about her own experience with a double corneal transplant.
He said he hoped the exhibition, which is open until Tuesday 14 March, would inspire people to discuss organ donation with their loved ones, and sign up at donatelife.gov.au
“It’s one thing to become a donor, but it’s really important to tell your family, or your nearest and dearest, because it makes the whole process easier if something does happen,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t like to talk about it, but when I do engage with people about it … I find the majority of people are quite willing to do it, but some of them haven’t really thought about it.”
The Memo’s gallery is open from 11am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday, at 235 Maroondah Highway, Healesville. Entry is free.
