THE gates swing open just before 5am at Jack High Lodge, a small horse training complex on the outskirts of Port Macquarie.

Light rain is falling at what's become the backdrop to one of Australian sport's most courageous comeback attempts.

Jockey Marlon Dolendo pulls up in his old four-wheel drive. His smile says it all.

This is the remarkable return of a racing battler who nearly died, overcame a kidney transplant in August, battled depression, considered taking his life and suffered severe financial hardship.

Marlon rode in his last race 12 months ago this week. That night he was taken to hospital and the following 12 months have been a nightmare. No job, no income, little hope.

"I'd get up in the middle of the night and drive my car up to the Pacific Highway," he recalls.

"It was pitch black and I'd walk along the side of the road for kilometres, hoping a truck would hit me."

In the end it was his loving family, a retired old bus driver and the unwavering support from the racing industry that got him through.

Dolendo thought he was suffering from nothing more serious than flu. He went to his doctor, had blood tests and kept riding.

At a Grafton meeting he felt so weak he had to ask ambulance officers for oxygen just to get through to the last.

The next day, at a Port Macquarie meeting, was to be his final ride.

"I rode a winner but didn't even have the strength to pull my horse up over the line," he said. "I felt that crook I had to get the clerk of the course to get me back to the enclosure."

With the blood results back, staff at the doctor's surgery had been trying urgently to contact Marlon that day, not knowing he was riding at the local races.

Jockeys can't use their mobile phones on track. He got home and the specialist rang late that night.

No wonder he felt so lousy - his kidneys were operating at less than 10 per cent and he was close to dying.

"I was told to get straight to hospital that night or I'm gone," he says.

The 40-year-old jockey, a father of three, was on a dialysis machine for four days every week until surgeons performed a kidney transplant.

His sister Marie, a single mother of two, became the donor.

After the operation Dolendo was was left with no income, huge medical expenses, $400-a-week rent and a family to feed.

The racing industry rallied. A golf day and an auction dinner raised $43,000.

The money kept Marlon and his family going for 12 months but the account is now empty.

Racing NSW has been generous and is paying his rent for another three months and giving his family Woolworths vouchers.

CEO Peter V'landys also paid for Dolendo's aunt to fly out from the Philippines to look after the children while the jockey and his sister were undergoing the transplant and long recovery.

He is married to Grace and has three children Hanz, 14, Harvey, 10, and Hailey, 8. Hanz is following in dad's trail and has just started as a stablehand.

Dolendo met retired bus driver Giles 10 years ago. They've travelled together to race meetings ever since. Giles is now a father figure.

Last month Marlon applied to Racing NSW to be registered as a stablehand. After thorough medical assessments, it was approved last Friday. He went to trainer Neil Godbolt's Port Macquarie stables to jump on a horse again.

"My aim is to be fully fit and riding in races again by February. I know I can do it," he said.