Boyfriend offers his kidney in gift of life

Boyfriend offers his kidney in gift of life

by Joel de Woolfson
Jul 06, 07

A MOTHER and her boyfriend will today undergo joint operations in London that will give her a new lease of life.
Sasha Wilson, who suffered renal failure six years ago, will receive a kidney from partner Chris Walker at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.
There had been fears that Miss Wilson would have to leave her two youngest sons, Zachary, 8, and Joel, 7, at home alone after her family and Health and Social Services said they were unable to help.
Miss Wilson’s oldest son Connor, 12, lives in the UK.
But after her story was highlighted in the Guernsey Press last month, Heidi Wallace, whose son, Ethan, 7, attends St Andrew’s with Zachary, offered to take in both children while Miss Wilson recovers from the operation.
‘She and her husband have been absolutely lovely,’ said Miss Wilson, 32.
‘I will never be able to repay the kindness they have shown me. I have been so lucky, I cannot begin to thank her enough as this is such a kind thing to do.’
Miss Wilson said she could not put into words how grateful she was to her partner, Chris, 29.
‘It’s an incredible thing he is doing,’ she said. ‘He is giving me my life back and I will never be able to fully repay him for that.
‘The kids are going to finally get their mum back.’
She has been on a gruelling routine of four-hour dialysis sessions three times a week and said it had affected her whole life.
‘I’m always so tired but now I will be able to play with my kids more and we will be able to do even more things as a family.
‘We do quite a bit at the moment but not as much as I would like. Dialysis takes over your whole life because you have to plan the rest of your life around it.’
The operation will force the couple to stay in England for about five weeks to give Miss Wilson the best chance of her body accepting the kidney.
‘Rejection can happen at any time in the first year,’ she said. ‘I’m obviously concerned about that because I think it would carry a lot of guilt with it because Chris would have been put through so much for nothing.’
She explained that Mr Walker had been very calm in the run-up to the operation.
‘Chris is as relaxed as he always is. But I think I’m worrying enough for both of us,’ she said.
‘I’m a bit numb at the moment. But I think it will hit me once we get to London and then the nerves will kick in.
‘One of the things I’m looking forward to is going back to work, but being able to have more time and energy for my kids is the best thing about all this.’
Miss Wilson praised the level of care she had received both at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’.
‘I think we are lucky over here with the care we get because we don’t have to wait to get on dialysis like they do in the UK. I think the whole process has been handled very well and I have been really looked after.’
When Heidi and Max Wallace were told by their son that Zachary had nowhere to stay, they immediately offered to look after the two boys.
‘When Ethan came home and was so worried about his friend, Max and I said they could come and stay with us,’ said Mrs Wallace, 36.
‘We wouldn’t let any friend of our children go to anybody they didn’t know – even if they weren’t as friendly with my children, I still would have said yes to looking after them.
‘I spoke to Sasha and I’m so shocked that hardly anybody came forward,’ she said.
Mrs Wallace said that it could be a tough time for Zachary and Joel but that she would take good care of them.
‘We’ve got the boys for five or six weeks and we will be keeping them busy and I expect they will play very well with our two sons.’

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