Malaysia club hits the trail to promote organ donation
Siva Kumar Raghavan dreamed of reaching the top of Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Malaysia. But at more than 13,000 feet, it makes for a challenging two-day trek, which would be all the more so for Siva, who has been living for more than a decade with chronic kidney disease.
Siva received a kidney transplant from his wife in 2012, but it failed four years later, leaving him in need of dialysis three times a week, an exhausting treatment to filter waste from his blood that takes hours. Nonetheless, he embraced exercise, hiking in the hills around Kuala Lumpur and setting his sights higher every year.
“Some might say you spend half your life in dialysis,” says Siva, an educator and entrepreneur in Malaysia’s capital. “But I look at it as a blessing that is keeping me alive. I want to show other dialysis patients that they can continue to live life to the fullest.”
Siva Kumar Raghavan (left) poses with some of his climbing partners at the summit of Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Malaysia. Siva pitched the climb to fellow members of the Rotary Club of Melawati as a way to promote organ donation and inspire other dialysis patients.
Courtesy of Siva Kumar Raghavan
So, in search of climbing partners last year, Siva brought the idea to some close friends — his fellow members in the Rotary Club of Melawati. He pitched the climb as a way to promote organ donation and to inspire other dialysis patients. Club members jumped at the chance to help. After all, helping their community — and one another — has been part of their makeup from the beginning.
Navin Patel, a pathologist and former Rotaractor, organized the club, chartered in 2000, as a place where people could connect and feel supported. Two decades later, its members are as close as ever. "I wanted a club that was community-based and worked hard to build the camaraderie," says Patel. "Now, if members don't see each other for a week, they become restless."
Siva agrees. "We are like a family," he says. "We catch up with one another not only during Rotary meetings but other days as well. We do projects that involve the community and draw us all together."
Those projects include collecting surplus food from supermarkets for a zoo and donating sewing machines to help women start their own businesses. A vision project has provided free eye exams for children in partnership with a university optometry department. The club has also sent special needs teachers to Australia for vocational skill exchanges, building international understanding along the way.
But perhaps nothing demonstrates the club's culture of friendship and care more than the way it rallied around Siva — and not just for the climb. It was Patel, for instance, who helped diagnose Siva's kidney disease in 2009, referring him to a nephrology team at Kuala Lumpur Hospital and then making sure he followed doctors' orders. "He's always there for us, whenever anyone is in need," Siva says of Patel.
Another club member who is a lawyer assisted him when Siva says he was discriminated against because of his health condition. And when Siva and his wife decided to launch an early-childhood learning center, yet another club member offered support and invested in the startup, called Unikidsity International, which is in its 13th year of business.
For the June 2022 climb, 25 people signed up to trek alongside Siva. They ranged in age from Siva's 12-year-old son to a 68-year-old club member. Training hikes every Saturday became whole-club affairs as nonhiking members, family, and friends turned out to provide encouragement and stuck around after to socialize.
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While not technically difficult, the two-day climb is long and steep. On their way up, the Rotarians and their supporters trekked through temperate rainforest, spent the night in a dormitory-style chalet, and traversed roped and laddered sections. “Without a doubt, the climb has strengthened our bonds,” Siva says.
Courtesy of Siva Kumar Raghavan
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While not technically difficult, the two-day climb is long and steep. On their way up, the Rotarians and their supporters trekked through temperate rainforest, spent the night in a dormitory-style chalet, and traversed roped and laddered sections. “Without a doubt, the climb has strengthened our bonds,” Siva says.
Courtesy of Siva Kumar Raghavan
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While not technically difficult, the two-day climb is long and steep. On their way up, the Rotarians and their supporters trekked through temperate rainforest, spent the night in a dormitory-style chalet, and traversed roped and laddered sections. “Without a doubt, the climb has strengthened our bonds,” Siva says.
Courtesy of Siva Kumar Raghavan
The climb was no small feat for Siva, who as far as he knows is the first dialysis patient to attempt it. While not technically difficult, the climb is long and steep. Climbers spend the first day in temperate rainforest, passing by waterfalls and through thick forest before reaching a zone of stunted vegetation and mosses. After bedding down in a dormitory-style chalet, they rise before 2 a.m. to tackle the second, steeper leg of the climb with the aim of reaching the summit by sunrise. This includes roped and laddered sections and a final 160-foot scramble over a boulder-strewn incline.
The evening before the climb, Siva underwent dialysis at a nearby hospital, a process that he says leaves him tired and weak. He did dialysis again the day after his descent. The altitude also made breathing difficult. "As we were getting higher and closer to the peak, I had to really slow down my pace," Siva recalls. "I motivated myself with positive self-talk. The last kilometer took me more than an hour."
But the support of his club kept him going, and the group made it to the summit. "Without a doubt, the climb has strengthened our bonds," he says. "And everyone is more aware of the need for organ transplants."
Siva, who is still hoping for another transplant, remains focused on helping others living with the disease and spreading awareness. The club is looking to support a center offering free dialysis care to people who can't afford it. And Siva and another club member, Manvir Victor, a kidney transplant recipient, are conducting monthly walks with patients awaiting transplants to offer them moral support. "It's a great feeling to have very supportive leaders and friends in an organization," says Siva. "They keep us close and help us grow stronger year by year."
This story originally appeared in the June 2023 issue of Rotary magazine.