Saved by Cupid's arrow: Transplant for archery champ after match with girlfriend

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Saved by Cupid's arrow: Transplant for archery champ after donor match with girlfriend
Exclusive by Dan Thompson
January 05, 2011

A champion archer left seriously ill by a rare kidney disease has been saved - after his loving partner proved to be a donor match.

David Poyner was struck down with IGA nephritis that left him needing dialysis three times a week.

In December 2009, his kidneys failed and he was left in hospital for three months. And in July last year David, 53, suffered another setback when he had a brain haemorrhage because of complications with the dialysis machine.

So his partner of three years, Jane Pittaway-Hampson stepped forward to offer one of her kidneys in a bid to end his suffering.

Thankfully, the couple were a perfect match, and surgeons at Manchester Royal Infirmary were able to transplant Jane’s healthy organ to David in December.

The pair, who met after David bumped into Jane on a railway platform, were in adjoining wards and nursing staff kept them both up to date on each other’s progress.

Now they are at their home in Sale making a good recovery.

Former Royal Navy officer David, 53, said: “Words can’t really describe how I feel about what Jane has done. No-one has ever done anything like this in my life.

“It’s beyond belief that someone would want to make such an unselfish and generous gesture to give you the freedom to carry on living a relatively normal life. It’s astounding.”

The operation was carried out after Jane underwent a simple blood test which found they were compatible – meaning that David avoided a long wait for a new organ.

Last year there were 989 kidney donation operations and just 38 involved a partner as the donor. Jane, 42, who has a 16-year-old daughter, also had to undergo a number of tests to make sure she was physically able to live with one kidney.

She also had a psychological assessment. Jane, a civil servant, said: “I’m a little bit sore and a little bit tired but mentally I feel on top of the world. To see my David with colour in his cheeks and a spring in his step is really something else.

“The decision to become a living donor was simple - I don’t need two kidneys, David needs one, and when you care deeply about someone you do what you have to do to keep them well.

“It will make a significant difference to our lives as he won’t have to spend 21 hours a week travelling and dialysing.”

David, who is chair of the St. Dunstan’s Archery Club, is no stranger to illness. He was left visually impaired 12 years ago after he suffered a stroke and was left in a coma by a rare genetic condition that affects the nervous system and muscles.

The keen sportsman and a British Blind Sport national champion. He has shot internationally as part of the GB visually impaired archery squad, and holds several national records.

He was diagnosed with IGA nephritis in 1996. The condition prevents him from excreting protein from the kidneys.

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