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For more than 40 years, Mark Colvin brought the news to Australians from all over the world.
Now, the respected ABC journalist is in his own story.
Colvin is the subject of a new play that details his life-saving organ transplant, aptly named Mark Colvin's Kidney.
The veteran reporter's career nearly killed him.
Colvin suffered kidney failure after falling ill covering the conflict in Rwanda and 20 years later, he needed a transplant.
He even met his donor on the job, in an interview about the "News of the World" phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom.
Prominent business adviser Mary-Ellen Field had been accused of giving journalists personal information about one of her clients, supermodel Elle McPherson.
A friendship was born between the interviewer and interviewee and when the time came, Ms Field donated a kidney to Colvin.
Colvin had three years of dialysis before his transplant.
"It's wonderful. I don't have to go to dialysis three days a week," Colvin said.
"And I don't have to go through that rollercoaster of slowly being poisoned by your own body."
Colvin said his passion for organ donation preceded his operation by "a long time" and urged families to speak about the subject.
"I'm not going out there and saying 'You've got to donate your organs', I'm saying you've got to tell people what your wishes are — whether you want to donate your organs or not," he said.
"When that time comes, it's probably going to be because of a car smash or some dreadful accident like that and they [your family] won't be able to ask you afterwards."
Ms Field was back at work 11 days after the operation.
"You know there's a bit of pain for the first few days but hey, you're saving someone's life," she said.
"You can put up with a bit of pain. It's like having babies you know — you get something good at the end."
The play's director, David Berthold, said the production shined a light on contemporary issues, like organ donation, and justice.
Colvin admitted to being a little nervous about looking at his life on stage.
"I went to the rehearsal rooms the other day and I saw the hospital bed and it triggered a bit of PTSD," he said.
"I've had 22 years in and out of hospital beds and I think it [the play] is going to knock me around a bit in that sense."
The play was written by acclaimed Australian playwright Tommy Murphy and the premiere season has begun at the Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, theatre, media, sydney-2000