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« on: May 04, 2014, 10:21:59 PM »

British father goes through three kidney transplants from three different family members

May 02, 2014 23:07 By Amanda Killelea

After being diagnosed with gout at just 21 and suffering from lethargy, Andrew Knox knew that something wasn't right, but he couldn't have imagined the story that would follow

Daily Mirror / John GladwinMultiple failure: Andrew Knox has had three transplants at the young age of 42

Dad Andrew Knox is believed to be the first person in Britain and one of only a handful in the world to have three kidney transplants from his own close family.

His mum, dad and sister all made organ donations after Andrew, 42, suffered kidney failure three times.

First his mum Teresa donated a kidney when Andy’s organs failed at just 25. When that one stopped working eight years later dad Freddie stepped up to donate.

And just two weeks ago Andy’s younger sister Helen went under the knife to give her brother another chance.“I do feel like I have been given four lives,” says Andy, of Warrington, Cheshire. “Mum, Dad and Helen have all put their lives at risk in order to make my life better and I can’t thank them enough.

“I might not say it every day but they can see through my actions that I am living the right way, I am keeping myself fit and active, I am using it and I am not taking it for granted. You need to do the best you can because otherwise, what have they done it for?”

Andy’s luck at finding donors in his family has amazed medics at the Royal Liverpool Hospital who have never seen a case like it before.

“We perform around 100 kidney transplants a year and see many cases where a person has two or even three transplants,” says consultant transplant surgeon Abdul Hammad. “But Andrew is the first we have treated fortunate enough to find three matches in his own family.”

Andy was a healthy young man of 21 when his toe began to hurt.

“I just thought I had stubbed it at football,” he said. “But I was diagnosed with gout, which is associated with older people and rich living, which I wasn’t doing.”

Over the next five years he began to feel more and more lethargic and kept going back to see his doctor. Eventually he was referred to the Royal Liverpool and heard devastating news.

“They told me that my kidneys were failing and without dialysis or a transplant I would have just six months to live. It was a complete shock,” he recalls.

His parents and Helen were living in Bristol at the time so Andy told them the news that changed their lives in a phone call.

Daily Mirror / John GladwinKidney transplant recipient Andy KnoxThird time lucky? Kidney transplant recipient Andy Knox with his parents and sister
Mum Teresa, 63, says: “I couldn’t believe it was happening at his age.”

Unless a matching donor could be found, Andy faced life on dialysis. Teresa and husband Freddie offered to be tested and they moved back to Warrington to be at his side.

Back in 1998, patients had to be on dialysis for six months before they were considered for a transplant. For Teresa, that wasn’t quick enough.

Andy says: “Mum asked, ‘Is he fitter now before six months of dialysis or would he be fitter afterwards?’ When they said I would be fitter now, she and Dad asked them to reconsider and the tests were done really quite quick.”

Both Teresa and Freddie were a good match, which is rare in itself. Teresa was adamant that she would donate.

“I told them that I was doing it. I wanted to do it, plus Freddie was the breadwinner so it made sense.”

Andy adds: “I said goodbye to Mum and Dad the night before. That’s when it became real, that I realised she was putting her life on the line for me. What can you say? All I could do was thank her and hope everything went OK.”

Initially the operation was a success and Andy was back home after just nine days. But over the next eight years he was admitted more than 50 times and in 2005 had to take medical retirement from his job in the power industry.

He says: “You have to take a lot of drugs to stop your body rejecting the kidney but they suppress your immune system, leaving you at risk of infection. It is a fine balancing act, and I suppose I was just unlucky.

“In my eyes the transplant from my mum was still a success. I had my life back for eight years.

Andy Knox having hospital treatmentAndy Knox having hospital treatment
“Dialysis is quite a chore – you feel lethargic, you can’t eat certain things and the amount you can drink is limited to just 500ml a day.”

With Teresa’s donor kidney failing, dad Freddie, 67, again offered to step in. But doctors warned the family it was unlikely he would still be a match.

“Your genetic make-up and DNA alter after a transplant,” explains Andy.

“But we did the tests and we just about met the criteria.”

This time Andy suffered four episodes of rejection in the early stages after the transplant. “I was in hospital for four weeks. But everything else went perfectly. It was almost too good,” he says.

After seven years the second donor kidney was failing and Andy had to go back on dialysis. He was running out of options but sisters Jenny, 41, and Helen, 33, had already been making plans.

Andy, who has a 15-year-old son called Bailey, says: “Jenny’s son has cerebral palsy who needs her, so they agreed Helen would have the tests. With my parents it was easier to accept – I would do anything for my son too.

Kidney transplant recipient Andy Knox and his son BaileyGood father: Andy Knox and his son Bailey
But this time it was difficult for me.

“I am the big brother, she is my little sister – someone I’ve been looking out for all my life. For her to turn around and be the one who is looking after me now is quite strange.”

Astonishingly, nursery manager Helen turned out to be a 100% kidney match. Andy says: “The doctors couldn’t believe it. I just keep wondering where all this luck has come from.”

Two weeks ago brother and sister were wheeled down to theatre together.

Helen, her voice cracking with emotion, explains: “You are obviously nervous for yourself, but I was more worried for him saying goodbye. We didn’t speak – we just squeezed each other’s hands.” The transplant has proved successful and Andrew feels great.

“Apparently I just smiled for two days when I was coming round,” he says. “The air smelt cleaner, food tasted nice again and it was a real feeling of ­rejuvenation and new beginnings.”

Helen is happy too. “I am feeling great,” she says. “Mum and Dad are living proof that you can live a normal life with one kidney. Now we just want Andrew to get his life back on track.”

He’s doing a good job at that. Andy is now on the management committee for Transplant Sport UK. He took up tennis after his first transplant, played in the World Transplant Games, and is now coordinating the sport at this year’s British Transplant Games in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Paul Harden, a trustee of Transplant Sport and a consultant transplant physician in Oxford, says: “The fact that Andy has had three living donor transplants from members of his own family is remarkable. I have been a consultant for 17 years and we have done about 3,000 transplants here in Oxford and I have never come across it before...”

Andy adds: “Some people don’t ever get a match, never mind three. Some people are on dialysis for 10 or 20 years and never get a donor.

“Yet I have never received a kidney from a stranger. The benefit to me is that I can thank my mum, dad and Helen every day.”

- www.transplantsport.org.uk



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/british-dad-undergoes-three-kidney-3489743#ixzz30ocpTwmt
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Admin for IHateDialysis 2008 - 2014, retired.
Jenna is our daughter, bad bladder damaged her kidneys.
Was on in-center hemodialysis 2003-2007.
7 yr transplant lost due to rejection.
She did PD Sept. 2013 - July 2017
Found a swap living donor using social media, friends, family.
New kidney in a paired donation swap July 26, 2017.
Her story ---> https://www.facebook.com/WantedKidneyDonor
Please watch her video: http://youtu.be/D9ZuVJ_s80Y
Living Donors Rock! http://www.livingdonorsonline.org -
News video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-7KvgQDWpU
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