For most of his life, Rezwan Mohammed has known he would need a new kidney.
Raised in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, Rezwan was born with pneumonia and spent much of his childhood unwell.
"There weren't any proper doctors, all they gave you was Panadol and stuff like that for every sickness," he said.
When he was six years old, he and his family of seven were put on an emergency list to enter Australia — not for Rezwan's condition, but for his younger brother born with a hole in his heart.
"He needed surgery. The Bangladesh government told us that we could come here so he could get surgery," Rezwan said.
"A week before that he passed away."
The family were still able to travel to Australia, where they undertook medical testing.
"They found I had a kidney that was completely dead," Rezwan said.
"Before they could remove it, it had already affected the other one by five per cent."
Rezwan's older brother Yousuf was 10 years old when the family came to Australia. He said there was not "proper medical treatment" in the camps.
"I lost a brother there, I lost two sisters there," he said.
"[Rezwan] was born with pneumonia and he was very unhealthy when he was born."
They had no idea that Rezwan's kidneys were failing.
"There was no medication for Rezwan … we didn't know it was actually a disease. We just thought it was like pneumonia. We used to take him to a local person that just prayed for him," Yousuf said.
Just a kid when he arrived in Australia, Rezwan "wasn't really worried about getting a new kidney", but by the age of 13, when his good kidney had given way, the reality of the situation set in.
"I started dialysis in 2017 and was on it for three years," he said.
People undergoing haemodialysis kidneys cannot get rid of waste products and fluids for their blood. Rezwan's recommended diet was dry minimal.
"I could only drink 750 millilitres of water — that includes water in the food. Food in our family is basically rice and stuff like that so that is pretty hard to maintain," Rezwan said.
At one stage while on dialysis Rezwan, then in the first years of high school, weighed under 30 kilos.
"[He was] very tiny. We were quite scared because we thought he wouldn't make it alive," Yousuf said.
"We came from a refugee background and diet … it's not our thing. So we just eat what we grew up with — rice and curry. So he missed out on a lot of the stuff, you know, being able to eat and make his own choices about food."
After two years on dialysis, Rezwan joined the roughly 1,700 Australians waiting for an organ transplant.
"I thought I would never get it because my blood type is really, really rare," he said.
Michael Burke, director of the Kidney Health Service at the Mater, and a doctor of Rezwan's, said finding kidneys to match can be very difficult.
"For some groups in the community it can be more difficult than others," he said.
But after a year on the list, in December 2019, Rezwan received the kidney he always knew he would need.
"Since that time, he's done really, really well," Dr Burke said.
No contact sports
Rezwan and his family are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. There are roughly a million Rohingya living in the refugee camps of Bangladesh where Rezwan was born.
"My parents fled from Myanmar when they were very young," Rezwan said.
"The Rohingya genocide is happening right now."
For the Rohingya community in Australia, sport, particularly football, is a binding force. In Brisbane, the Rohingya United football team is a source of pride and a reason to come together.
Due to the risks posed by contact sports, Rezwan was told by his doctors he could not play.
"Health comes first before anything else, you have to get healthy first and then you can play, I've always understood that.
"I felt left-out not playing on the Rohingya United team."
Yousuf said Rezwan "missed out on a lot" growing up, including schooling and playing the sports he loved.
Instead Rezwan turned to non-contact sports.
When he was in year 8, a school friend invited Rezwan to take part in after school badminton sessions in the sports hall.
"Since then I have never stopped going there, I fell in love with the sport," he said.
Yousuf said his brother was a "tough kid" that couldn't be kept away from sports.
"We didn't know he was actually playing badminton … I mean, we love sports, but I didn't think badminton would be a thing for him," he said with a laugh.
Badminton is a game of speed and timing. On the court, Rezwan is nimble and daring. There is no sign of tentativeness or trepidation. He dives and leaps and yells.
Last year Rezwan and the school team won the local Brisbane competition. Rezwan has also won multiple club medals.
Callum Biggs, a teacher at Corina State High School who watches over the after-school sessions, says there is a strong badminton culture at the school.
"It's very busy on Friday afternoons — 50, 60 kids. Most people can't wait to get home after school on a Friday, but they want to stay until 4:30, 5 o'clock," he said.
After Rezwan received his transplant, his doctors suggested he compete in the Transplant Games, a sporting competition for people who have received new organs, as well as living donors and the families of deceased donors.
The games, which are in Perth this April, are expected to draw some 2,000 competitors from more than 50 countries.
While the message of the games is one of inclusiveness, there are elite competitors too.
Rezwan, who is also competing in table tennis, said he is "looking forward to meeting people and winning".
Mr Biggs, who has competed, and won, alongside Rezwan for their Sunnybank Hills club, says Rezwan is no slouch.
"Regardless of the transplant or not, he's still a very good player."
Games carry multiple messages
The Transplant Games have been running since 1988 and have been played on every continent. The Perth Games will be the third time the games have come to Australia.
Transplant Australia CEO Chris Thomas says the games carry two messages: to boost numbers of organ donors and to "help transplant recipients to achieve their own personal best".
"It's this unique sporting event which unites the world with this common message around the gift of life," he said.
Transplant Australia has a goal of doubling the number of Australians on the organ donor register, taking the pool from seven million to 14 million.
"That's 36 per cent of adult Australians who have registered. We've seen examples in the USA where they can achieve 70 per cent of the population. That's an achievable goal for us," Mr Thomas said.
He said COVID had a negative impact on organ donor registrations and the games are an opportunity to "re-engage the public conversation" on joining the organ donor register, and highlight the importance of making your family aware of your decision.
"Only about two in every 100 people who pass away, pass away in a way that they can actually become a donor," he said.
"We know that if you're registered, nine out of 10 occasions your family will support that registration and you'll go on to be a donor."
Rezwan said he thinks "everyday" about Rohingya people still in limbo in Bangladesh and hopes their plight can also be a part of a discussion on health in Australia.
"People are suffering, it's quite tough. I think if you bring them here, treatment, medication and funds would honestly help them out and make them feel well like it did for me," he said.
