‘Burst into tears’: ACT MP Mark Cameron to get life-saving kidney transplant
Monday, 8 December 2025
ACT MP Mark Cameron’s decade-long kidney battle is nearing a turning point with a life-saving transplant scheduled for the new year.
“I’m going to fight tooth and nail to do what I need to do, get this bloody kidney, celebrate how damnably good that is, and get on with my life.”
Cameron has his partner, Jodie Booth, to thank ‒ she donated one of her kidneys, though it is not her kidney Cameron will be receiving.
The Australia and New Zealand Paired Kidney Exchange Program is a shared live kidney exchange which finds compatible donors and recipients, allowing for kidneys to be donated into a programme with a compatible donor found in return.
Cameron talks to The Post from his Northland farm, where he has been staying for the past month, and will stay until he has the transplant. He hopes to return to Parliament when it starts back up in the new year - with a new kidney.
“I’ve got so much to do. I’ve got so many things I want to tackle, both in Parliament and in my career.”
There are not enough words in the English dictionary to convey his gratitude to Booth, but speaking as a farmer, he gives it a try.
“That is so f…ing good, it really is.”
It was on his farm that Cameron got the phone call telling him his perfect donor match had been found, and he “burst into tears” when he heard the news.
“I was like, excuse me, I gotta ring you back - I was inconsolable.”
It took him two years to get on the list for a transplant, but only six weeks once he was on it before he got the call.
Booth had wanted to donate part of her liver to her best friend years earlier, but her friend had died before she was able to do it.
“I think that was something that she felt compelled to do, to make the world a little bit better a place … that was her mindset.”
Living with kidney disease
At the time of Cameron’s diagnosis 10 years ago, he had about half of his kidney’s function but, not wanting to admit he was dying, he carried on with his life.
“I just said, no, I'm too busy. I haven't got time for this and I don't feel unwell.”
It wasn’t until May this year he was put on dialysis ‒ a life-sustaining treatment which cleans blood. His kidney was functioning about 3%.
In the lead-up to his transplant, Cameron made the switch from peritoneal dialysis ‒ an overnight treatment ‒ to hemodialysis, a treatment three times every week, each lasting three to four hours.
“I affectionately say I’m living on a box, but it's keeping me alive.“
He made the switch after the first form of treatment gave him recurring infections, which cannot happen if he is to undergo surgery.
The risk of infection means Cameron is on isolation at his Northland farm until the surgery, due to the risk of infection from travel and large crowds.
He has already had to postpone his transplant from Christmas to early next year after developing an infection.
The hormone changes that come with treatment means sleepless nights and falling asleep during the day, sometimes falling asleep in the House.
Party leader David Seymour has been “very kind”, giving him time off when he needs it, but he does not want to be the “weakest link”.
“I said ‘no, I’m not going to be an Achilles heel to this organisation, we’re a team, and I have to pull my weight.”
But it had been “bloody hard” when he was on medication that made him want to sleep during the day and stay awake at night.
“It really does beat you up.”
He thoughts lie with Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp, who died from the same disease at the age of 50 just months earlier while on the national kidney transplant waiting list.