What would you do if your best friend needed a kidney transplant? Gareth decided he was going to take matters into his own hands, and although he wasn’t a match for Mark he signed up to the kidney sharing scheme.
The UK living kidney sharing scheme is an option if you are not a suitable ‘match’ for someone you wish to donate a kidney to. In some cases, the donor can join a sharing scheme and be matched with another recipient pair in the same situation and for the donor kidneys to be ‘exchanged’ or ‘swapped’.
Mark had been diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease 10 years earlier but his health was deteriorating:
“I was referred from York Hospitals to Leeds and placed on the transplant list for a deceased donor. We started thinking about the possibility of live donation. I’ve got three sisters – one of which is a twin – but they weren’t able to donate. It was after that my two best friends, Gareth and Lee, offered to help. They weren’t a match for me but joined the sharing scheme and Gareth was chosen.
The next seven weeks were on fast forward. I was determined to get through to my operation without dialysis.”
Gareth remembers his experience: “At every stage I was reassured and felt they would only go ahead if they were sure I would not be affected.
Myself and another mate of Mark’s who had similar tests went forward for the kidney sharing scheme.
Fortunately I was matched up first time around and the operation date followed seven weeks later.
The whole experience of the operation was made comfortable by the amazing staff at St. James’s Hospital.
Care before, during and after was top notch.”
On a Tuesday in March, Gareth went down to theatre to donate before his kidney was transported to another hospital in the UK. Mark’s new kidney arrived in Leeds later that day for his own surgery.
Mark remembers: “I was back on the ward at St James’s by midnight. I was sat up in a chair by 8am the next day, and walked a few steps the day after.
The care I received was second to none and was such a positive experience.”
Post transplant, Gareth has started running again – completing a 35 mile run just six months post surgery.
And as for Mark: “I feel super lucky with my ‘gift’ and forever indebted to my best friends, my family and my clinical teams at St James’s and York Hospital.
I have a second chance of life and I am taking it!”
Find out more about becoming a live donor – Donating your kidney – NHS Organ Donation
This Organ Donation Week, discuss your wishes with your loved ones and confirm them on the Organ Donor Register. www.organdonation.nhs.uk