Donors needed to support strangers

Donors needed to support strangers

28 September 2016

TWO local people who have given the gift of life through kidney donation are encouraging others to consider doing the same.

Julie Hughes from Newcastle and Downpatrick man Raymond Rooney are among the first 500 people in the UK to donate a healthy kidney to a stranger over the past decade. They both donated their kidneys at Belfast City Hospital.

Julie is a teaching assistant at Knockevin Special School in Downpatrick and while most donors never find out where their kidney went, Julie met the man who received her kidney — Dave Evans from Birmingham.

The couple’s meeting was filmed recently for ITV’s Real Stories programme and was broadcast across the UK earlier this summer.

“There are more than 5,000 people in need of a kidney in the UK and around 300 people die needlessly every year,” said Julie. “Donating a kidney has been one of the most positive experiences of my life.”

Raymond explained donating a kidney was something he felt he wanted to do and is glad that he eventually did, adding: “I would encourage anyone to consider whether it’s something they could also offer to do.”

Any healthy adult can volunteer to be assessed as a living donor and a kidney from a living donor is the very best treatment option for most patients with kidney diseases. The volunteer donor goes through a thorough assessment over several months to ensure they are fit and healthy and that the risk to them is as low as possible. 

If approved, they are matched with a suitable recipient from the transplant waiting list or they can also enter into a sharing scheme which enables one non-directed donor to potentially ‘trigger’ up to three transplants.

Bob Wiggins, chairman of charity Give a Kidney which raises awareness of non-directed kidney donation, said it is encouraging everyone to consider if they could “share their spare.”

He continued: “Many people still don’t know that any healthy adult can volunteer as a living donor.  As a result of people like Julie and Raymond, many hundreds of lives have been changed for the better. Not only that, but together this group has already saved the NHS tens of millions of pounds over the cost of keeping the recipients on dialysis treatment.”

Lisa Burnapp, lead nurse for Living Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant said nearly 300 people died waiting for a kidney transplant last year.

She added: “Living donation is highly successful and hundreds of people have had their lives saved and transformed in reaching this milestone over the past decade, thanks to the incredible generosity of these donors.” 

Anyone wishing to consider giving the gift of a kidney to someone as a living donor can find out more at www.giveakidney.org. To register your wish to donate your organs after your death please visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.