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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on February 09, 2009, 02:52:12 PM
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Mother receives kidneys from drowned toddler
A mother has been given a life saving double kidney transplant using organs from a toddler who drowned in his garden pond.
By Chris Irvine
Last Updated: 9:43PM GMT 09 Feb 2009
Lori Smith, 35, had suffered kidney failure seven years ago after drinking contaminated water in Tunisia. She had to undergo daily dialysis before the life saving transplant.
She received the kidneys belonging to 16-month-old Kailin Tucker, who drowned after he fell into the pond at his grandmother's home in Southampton, Hants.
His mother Sasha Tucker took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead, but 45 minutes later he regained his heartbeat.
Although he was placed on a ventilator, he was declared brain dead three days later in August last year and his mother, 20, took the decision to donate his organs.
Within days, his kidneys were working inside Mrs Smith, of Abingdon, Oxon.
Mrs Smith said: "When they told me I was to receive two kidneys I asked why, and they said they were coming from a child, which shocked me.
"I later found out the child had died tragically and while I should have been ecstatic about having a transplant, I felt very sad this child had died and I struggled emotionally with what was happening.
"When I learned about the circumstances of Kailin's death I wrote a long letter to his mum, explaining what her decision had meant to my and my family's life."
Mrs Smith has since had Kailin's name and birth date tattooed on her wrist.
Miss Tucker, of Southampton, said she felt Kailin now "lived on" in Mrs Smith.
She said: "Kailin really was one in a million. He was a very special boy who was always happy.
"Initially I hadn't really wanted to donate Kailin's organs because he was still my little baby.
"But then I thought he was such a loving little boy and it was what he would have wanted.
She continued: "It definitely feels like a little piece of him lives on in Lori in some way and that does help a lot with the grief."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4569872/Mother-receives-kidneys-from-drowned-toddler.html