Blood-free kidney transplant carried out between two Jehovah’s Witnesses

Blood-free kidney transplant carried out between two Jehovah’s Witnesses

Surgeons have performed a blood-free kidney transplant between Debra and Jade Gouldbourne, two Jehovah’s Witnesses – despite the patients not being a donor match.
Doctors insisted on going ahead with the surgery, even though tests showed Debra’s failing organ was not compatible with her daughter Jade’s.
It was made more complicated by the mother and daughter’s faith, which dictates they cannot accept blood transfusions – meaning surgeons had to strictly limit blood loss.
But, four months on, the social worker has fully recovered with no sign of the kidney being rejected.
‘Accepting a kidney from my daughter has been a very emotional experience,’ Ms Gouldbourne said.
‘We built up to the surgery together, so we shared a huge emotional journey as well as the physical recovery.’
The procedure, carried out at St George’s Hospital in south London, is believed to be the first time an incompatible kidney transplant has been conducted between two Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Doctors removed some of the white blood cells in Ms Gouldbourne’s body a month before going under the knife in order to successfully bypass the body’s natural response of attacking incompatible organ tissue.
Jade, 27, added: ‘Despite the disappointment of the compatibility tests, I was determined that if there was a way to make it work we would try.’
Her 50-year-old mother, from Catford, south London, was born with a condition that caused her kidneys to fail and received a first transplant in 1986.
Prof Neil Turner, chairman of Kidney Research UK, said it was ‘extremely encouraging’ that emerging treatments were helping to improve the compatibility of donors.

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