Prince Daniel
Unusually emotional words about kidney transplant
© Dana Press
Prince Daniel rarely speaks so openly about his private life, but on World Kidney Day, Princess Victoria’s husband made an exception and told of a drastic event.
On March 9, 2023, Prince Daniel, 49, was able to devote himself to a real matter of the heart. On World Kidney Day, he met researchers at Stockholm Palace for a talk about kidney medicine. He shared his own experience, as Princess Victoria’s husband, 45, had a kidney transplanted from his father Olle Westling, 78, in 2009.
“I am grateful and humble”
Even if this serious intervention was 14 years ago, the memory of it still makes the 49-year-old emotional. “I don’t think about it every day, but I’m grateful and humbled, and I’m trying to make myself worthy of what I’ve been given by living healthy,” he told TV4. “It cannot be taken for granted that the organ will function for the rest of my life. I hope so, but there is always a certain humility because I am allowed to be healthy.”
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When asked by journalist Anders Pihlblad when he felt the worst before the operation, the royal struck up an unusually personal tone. “I was lucky that I had a living donor, so I planned it. Then there was a brief period where I was on dialysis for a few weeks because the kidneys weren’t working. I was in a really bad way then,” he revealed . After the operation, his condition improved immediately, he recalled.
Prince Daniel wants to spread knowledge
Since his own surgery, he has tirelessly campaigned for the issue of organ donation. “I feel a certain responsibility for spreading knowledge, for asking people to register. My simple philosophy is that if you are ready to accept an organ for yourself or your children, the decision to register is an easy one,” he explained. Slowly but surely, interest is growing, but “many people are still waiting for an organ,” says Daniel. “It’s a lot of stress. You know you won’t survive if you don’t get an organ. At the same time, we know that 85 percent of Swedes are in favor of donating organs, so it’s a bit frustrating.”
Sources used: svenskdam.se, Dana Press