Woman gives kidney to her sister after being drawn out of a hat

[okarol]

Woman gives kidney to her sister after being drawn out of a hat

Published Date: 04 July 2009
By Lauren Mirzai

A YOUNG woman donated her kidney to her sister after her name was drawn out of a hat.
Teri McLaughlin, 27, is now living with one of sister Mandy's kidneys in her body after a successful transplant last month.

Mandy, 24, donated her organ after watching her sister endure more than four years of dialysis.

When Teri was told she
ADVERTISEMENT
desperately needed a new kidney, her family from Uddingston underwent tests to see whether any of them was a match.

Her mother Kate, 46, brother David, 21, and sisters Dawn, 26, and Mandy were all told they could be compatible, so they drew names from a hat to see who would donate.

Both Mandy and David were chosen and after undergoing more tests that showed both siblings could provide the kidney, they had one more random draw to see who would supply the vital organ.

Teri said: "I didn't want to put my family through anything so I never asked them to get tested.

"But they all wrote letters to the hospital saying they wanted to be checked.

"When we were told we all had the same blood we couldn't believe it. There were lots of arguments because everyone wanted to be the person who donated their kidney to me."

She continued: "It was so overwhelming that they were all desperate to help me and it was decided that the only way to decide was to draw names out of a hat.

"Mandy kept saying it was going to be her and that she wanted to"

Teri was first put on kidney dialysis when she was 12 years old. At the age of nine months she contracted E coli from cow's milk, leaving her with kidney damage.

Her kidneys grew worse and she was put on dialysis for two and a half years until a donor was found.

Her first transplant was a success and she lived a normal life for nearly ten years. But in 2005 she started to become out of breath easily and kept being sick.

She went to Monklands hospital where she was put back on dialysis within hours and told she needed another transplant.

After Mandy was proved to be a match, a series of tests followed and after a year the sisters were given a date for the operation to go ahead.

The nine-hour transplant was carried out last month.

Mandy said: "I hated seeing her on dialysis, it's not a normal life for anyone.

"When my name was picked I was happy. I never had any regrets.

"There was never a minute when I had doubts or wanted to change my mind."

She continued: "We did have to wait for a long time before we were given a date but during that time we hardly talked about it.

"We just got on with our normal life.

"It was only a few weeks before the surgery that one night we got a bit emotional and there were tears but I was never afraid."

Both Teri and Mandy were allowed home within a week after the operation.

Teri continues to have weekly check-ups but doctors insist she is responding well and she hopes to be fully fit by the end of the year.

She said: "I can't thank Mandy enough. I feel much better after this transplant than I did with the first one.

"It must be because she is my sister."

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Woman-gives-kidney-to-her.5429074.jp