Four kidney transplants - now mum gives son gift of lifeJan 17 2009
COVENTRY hospital patient Craig Clark has been given the best possible gift by his mum – a kidney which promises him a whole new life.
Craig has already undergone four kidney transplants, despite being just 29 years old.
But the organ donated by mum Zandra James has been the best yet and could transform his life.
Craig is one of the first patients at Coventry’s University Hospital to undergo a pioneering organ transplant from a living donor who has incompatible antibodies.
The management consultant was born with very small kidneys and had his first transplant at the age of 11. He had two more new kidneys by the time he was 19 but had a reaction after his previous operation.
“The latest transplant has been the best yet,” said Craig, who now lives in Guildford, Surrey.
“Words cannot express how I feel about my mother donating one of her kidneys for me. And the service I have received at University Hospital has been second to none.”
Zandra had endured years of agony watching Craig undergo surgery and dialysis. “I had wanted to donate a kidney 10 years ago but the technology wasn’t so well advanced then,” she said. It’s a joy to know I have given new hope for my son.”
Now Zandra, from Stafford, wants more people to donate organs for transplant to help patients in a similar position to her son.
Before the transplant Craig had the antibodies washed out of his blood. This was done because he had incompatible antibodies which could have attached themselves to the new organ, damaging it or forcing his body to reject it.
After the operation Craig was given new drug Eculizumab to cut the risk of any complications.
He is one of just two transplant patients at University Hospital – and indeed in the whole of Europe – who have been given the treatment.
Dr Rob Higgins, renal consultant at the hospital, said the drug needed more clinical tests to ensure it was safe for transplants but it was widely used in other conditions and the early signs were promising that it could help more patients.
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2009/01/17/four-kidney-transplants-now-mum-gives-son-gift-of-life-92746-22715174/
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