WHY I GAVE MY KIDNEY TO A CHILD I’LL NEVER MEET

WHY I GAVE MY KIDNEY TO A CHILD I’LL NEVER MEET
Sue Jepson explains what drove her to put her life on the line to become an ‘altruistic’ organ donor

Tuesday December 20, 2011
By Sue Jepson

I’M fascinated by science and medicine.
In fact my idea of relaxation is watching a TV programme on the subject with a cup of tea. Yet watching one particular BBC documentary in March 2010 changed my life for ever. It was about a wife who donated a kidney to her husband when he had kidney failure.
I was shocked. I knew you could give blood and donate your eggs but I had no idea you could give away a kidney as a living donor. For days afterwards the couple popped into my head. I’d be driving my car and I’d start to think about their story or I’d be out shopping and my mind would wander back to them.
Something about their situation touched me. Within days I was mulling over the idea that I could give a stranger one of my kidneys. Once this thought formed it became like a stab of conscience.
I spent two weeks researching altruistic kidney donation on the internet. I even watched a US kidney donor operation on YouTube and it was fascinating. The statistics swung my decision. There are 6,500 people in the UK on the waiting list for a kidney donation and every year 300 of them die.
The donor recipient’s mother wished me a happy Christmas
Sue Jepson explains what drove her to put her life on the line to become an ‘altruistic’ organ donor
It’s obvious donating a kidney isn’t like giving blood. It’s a major operation and there are risks such as blood clots, bleeding, a heart attack, bowel injury, plus infection and death. One in every 3,000 donors dies during the procedure. Then there is the issue of pain after surgery and the recovery time.
I wasn’t fazed because the selection procedure is so stringent and you could back out at any time. I underwent 10 months of tests and consultations to make sure I was healthy and that I had 100 per cent functioning kidneys.
At first my family wasn’t happy about my decision. I only told my partner Glen, 47, who I live with in Halifax, West Yorkshire, after I’d made my initial appointment with the transplant team at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds. I broke the news to him a month after watching the documentary.

His first reaction was: “Are you crazy? You are risking your life for a stranger.” But Glen knows that I make my own decisions so he didn’t try to talk me out of it. Instead he came to all my appointments which really touched me.
My children David, 31, Sian, 27, Holly, 23, and Daryl, 18, were more laid back than Glen. David said it was a fantastic thing to do but still thought I was mad to do it.
The only negative comment came from my sister who couldn’t understand my reasons. She said I was selfish to put my family through the worry. I know this is how the majority of people think but the process was so thorough and the surgeons so experienced that I felt I was in safe hands.
I wasn’t nervous before the operation in October last year but I was realistic. I sorted out my will, made sure I was insured and wrote letters to Glen and the children. I kept the notes in my handbag so they would be found, although when I came round from the operation I threw them away.
My recovery time was quick and the pain surprisingly minor. It felt similar to bad period pain. I know some people need morphine after the operation but I only needed two paracetamol and I was home 48 hours later which was great.
The keyhole surgery has left a 3in scar below my right hip and two small scars on my abdomen. I hardly notice them.
As an altruistic donor you never know who is going to receive your kidney but before I left the hospital a transplant consultant told me the recipient was doing well.
Then in December last year, via my transplant co-ordinator, I received an unexpected Christmas card with a lovely message that brought tears to my eyes. The donor recipient’s mother wished me a happy Christmas and thanked me for giving her son the chance to live a healthy and happy life.
I’ve put the card in my memory box and I treasure it. What is really special is that only last month my transplant co-ordinator told me the recipient is a young child who is thriving. The news is the best Christmas present I’ve had in years.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/290910/Why-I-gave-my-kidney-to-a-child-I-ll-never-meet