It was during these festive conversations that John’s brother, Tony, raised the prospect of donating his kidney to help his sibling, an offer John would go on to accept earlier this year.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s DonateLife’s annual Thank You Day, the older Gibson brother said Tony had been forthcoming with his generosity.

“He’d been thinking about it for quite a while and he was around for dinner one night when it came up,” he said.

“He basically said, ‘I want to save your life’, and then underwent the procedure in April of this year.”

It was not the first time Mr Gibson had received a kidney from someone close to him, with his brother’s organ needed to replace the one his wife Lyn had given to him in 2009.

Having been informed by doctors as a 49-year-old that he would most likely need to have his kidney replaced in the coming years, the now 66-year-old had discussed the issue extensively with his spouse.

For her part, Mrs Westlake-Gibson said the final decision was a no brainer. 

“When it’s your husband, you don’t have to spend much time thinking about it,” she said.

“To watch him hooked up to the dialysis machine was quite hard, and it really made me want to do what I could for him.

“Life became so much better for the both of us after the donation in the sense that we both had more freedom in our lives.

“Other than having to take certain medications, my life didn’t change all that much, physically.”

Mr Gibson is one of 194 people who have received a kidney transplant from a living donor this year, including 31 through the Australian Paired Kidney Exchange Program.

They form part of the 1063 Australians who have received a lifesaving transplant thanks to the generosity of 381 donors and their families.

DonateLife Tasmania executive officer Davin Hibberd said Thank You Day was about recognising the selflessness of all types of donors.

“We’re asking the Tasmanian community to not only say, ‘thank you’, but also to take it one step further and join the Australian Organ Donor Register,” he said.

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