Mirror journalist Steve Purcell: Amazing new kidney treatment has given me my life back19/02/2010
When Mirror journalist Steve Purcell, 52, needed a kidney his son didn’t hesitate to volunteer. But as their blood types were different, doctors had to use a revolutionary transplant technique.I was on the M25 driving to work when the doctor called to tell me that my kidneys had ceased to function. Deadly toxins were building up in my body and I could have a heart attack at any time.
This bolt from the blue was a bit of a heart-stopper itself and, having first told me to pull over onto the hard shoulder, the doctor said I had to get someone to drive me to hospital at once for emergency dialysis.
Within hours I was facing the prospect of spending the next 20 years or more having debilitating dialysis three days every week.
Now though, just 12 months on, I am living a “normal” life following a groundbreaking new type of kidney transplant which allows a person with a different blood group to donate an organ.
My son Patrick, 28, volunteered to give me a kidney the moment he heard the news that mine had failed but he had his mum’s blood group not mine.
Most transplants have to meet a stringent set of criteria matching the donor to the recipient – with the same blood group being one of the most important. Currently a third of all potential donors are rejected because of blood incompatibility.
At first it was a crushing disappointment to both of us but the transplant co-ordinator explained about the possibility of a new ABO Incompatible transplant.
While Patrick’s blood was type A and mine was type B, the transplant team at St George’s Hospital, South London, were prepared to go ahead.
It meant, however, that I would be the first patient at St George’s, one of Britain’s leading transplant centres, to have this treatment and one of only a handful in this country so far.
Rules governing transplants have been relaxed in recent years due to the growing numbers of people desperately needing this life-changing surgery. More than 8,000 are currently waiting for a kidney donor and three die every day while on the waiting list.
But results in Sweden have shown the ABO Incompatible transplants to be every bit as successful as normal live donor ones.
And so, almost 10 months later, Patrick and I were at St George’s for the transplant. Everything went well.
The following day Patrick was able to shuffle round to my room where we planned a celebration with juicy steak dinners – when you’re “nil by mouth” you can’t think about anything other than food!
It’s hard to begin describing your emotions and what you owe to your donor and the medical professionals who’ve made your new life possible all on the much-maligned NHS.
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Patrick and I now share more than just a father-son bond. Friends in our village on the Surrey-Hampshire border jokingly refer to Patrick as “Like Halfords – good for spare parts!”
Patrick was able to go home after just two days and I was allowed home after a week. I was on dialysis three times a week for 10 months while waiting for the op and it was such a relief to finally get a working kidney.
Many people are on dialysis for years but I found, even in my relatively short time, just how draining it can be.
At my lowest ebb I had to lie down for 45 minutes after just mashing potatoes. Then, a few weeks before I was due to have the op, I collapsed unconscious on the Tube on my way to work. Fellow passengers carried me off the train and I came to on the floor at Canary Wharf station.
It was at that point I realised just how much my new kidney would change my life.
Of course, I have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of my life and I’ve also gone from euphoria that it’s over and I survived to fearing with every unexpected twinge that something was going to go wrong.
But regular blood tests show the kidney is working well and I feel like my dud batteries have been replaced by one fully-charged Duracell.
As time goes on, the number of hospital visits will reduce, as will the drugs, and I am massively encouraged to meet patients who have had their kidneys for 20 and 30 years or more.
Now I’m just delighted to be one of many transplant survivors who live each day to the full and who owe it all to a friend, relative or, often, to a stranger.
Patrick says: “When I heard my dad faced a life on dialysis I had no hesitation volunteering to give him one of my kidneys. It was painful for a few weeks but it was well worth it.”
The treatment
The new technique, known as the ABO blood group incompatible live kidney transplant, reduces the number of white blood cells the patient produces. Normally, white blood cells evolve to produce antibodies that can harm and even reject the new kidney.
A month before the transplant, the patient is given a special antibody Rituximab to reduce white-blood-cell count.
A week before the transplant, they have several dialysis-like sessions to remove antibodies which work against specific proteins in the blood. Around 20-30% of renal failure patients who are suitable for a live transplant could benefit from this new technique. You can help
To boost the Organ Donor Register visit
www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call the NHS donor line on 0300 123 2323 or by texting SAVE to 84118. You can also register at your GP’s surgery or when registering for a driving licence.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/life-style/real-life/2010/02/19/mirror-journalist-steve-purcell-amazing-new-kidney-treatment-has-given-me-my-life-back-115875-22053329/
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