Doctors said I was too fat to save my girl's life

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Doctors said I was too fat to save my girl's life

Exclusive by Lucy Laing and Kate Jackson 28/12/2007


When Margaret Davies offered to give her daughter a kidney to save her life, there was one big problem - her own weight.

The doctors told her she was too fat to go ahead with a transplant. So Margaret decided to take drastic action.

She joined a slimming group and managed to lose two stone - to be slim enough to go ahead with the lifesaving transplant.

"Being told I was too overweight to go ahead with the transplant was a shock, but I would have done anything to give Louise my kidney," says Margaret.
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"I knew I was overweight. I was a comfort-eater and the stress of Louise's illness and the process of being assessed as a donor had made me snack even more.

"I'd pick at anything, sweet or savoury, and I just didn't realise how much I was eating."

But thanks to her efforts her grateful daughter Louise, 20, got her new kidney for Christmas and has been given a new lease of life.

"This Christmas has been wonderful now that Louise has got my kidney," said Margaret, 51, from Aberdare, south Wales.

"Last year, she was having to go on dialysis every night which meant she had to go to bed at 10.30pm. She couldn't go out to nightclubs or stay over at friends' houses.

"She never let it get in the way of living a normal life, but she didn't have much energy to do all the things other girls her age were doing.

"Now, she's able to go shopping with her friends and go out to the nightclubs. She used to have to restrict her diet, but this year she enjoyed a turkey dinner and all the trimmings.

"It's the best present she could have had."

Louise, who is training to be a beauty therapist at Aberdare further education college, had suffered from crippling kidney infections since she was five.

"I had kidney infections every year and they were so painful that I would be unable to walk for two weeks," says Louise.

A routine check-up two years ago revealed that she was suffering from high blood pressure and she was referred to hospital, where tests showed that her kidneys were failing.

Doctors told her that her only chance of survival was to go on dialysis and eventually to have a kidney transplant.

"We were just so shocked, we couldn't take it in, that Louise actually needed a transplant," recalls Margaret. "The constant kidney infections had caused so much scarring that it was making it impossible for her kidneys to work properly."

LOUISE began dialysis a few months later, in March 2006 while her parents were tested to see if they could be a possible donor match for her. Both were found to be positive.

Her two brothers Mitchel, 28, and Sean, 26, and her sister Jessica, 25, also wanted to be tested, but doctors advised them to wait to see if a transplant from one of their parents was successful first.

"There was absolutely no question I would give my kidney to Louise," says Margaret, a nursery nurse. "I've been a blood donor all my life and I've always known I'll be an organ donor - I just didn't think I would be alive when it happened."

For Margaret's husband Stephen, 53, surgery would have been more difficult as he had two arteries leading to his kidneys instead of the normal one.

So it was decided Margaret should be the donor - but she needed to lose at least two stone before the operation could go ahead. Margaret joined her local Slimming World group and started to shed the pounds.

"It was hard at first," she says. "There were times along the way when it was difficult to keep to the diet, like family get-togethers or at work when the biscuit tin went round.

"But when you've got a goal like mine, it makes a huge difference. Thinking about Louise and making her better made me conscious of everything I put in my mouth.

"I focused on her, and she was brilliant in encouraging me to stick with it."

By June Margaret had managed to shed two stone, taking her from more than 15 stone to just over 13 stone.

Her weight loss meant the operation at University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, could go ahead on June 12.

"We were just so thrilled," says Margaret. "I wasn't nervous about the operation for myself - I just wanted to see Louise get better."

Margaret's kidney was removed first during a three-hour operation, then Louise underwent four hours in surgery as they transplanted her mum's kidney..

"The worst part for me was that I couldn't be there when she woke up from the transplant," says Margaret. "She had her dad and her brothers and sisters, but I wanted to be there when she woke up and it was difficult knowing I couldn't."

The transplant was a success and mum and daughter were reunited the following day. "It was so emotional when I saw Mum for the first time afterwards," says Louise. "We couldn't have a hug because neither of us could move forward at the waist. So we just held each other's hands and burst into tears."

Margaret adds: "As soon as I saw Louise I could see a difference in her. She had a lovely pink healthy colour to her cheeks, which was wonderful to see."

For Christmas, Margaret gave Louise a special keepsake - an angel charm bearing a message about mothers and daughters. In turn, Louise gave her a blender so they can make healthy meals and smoothies together.

And this Christmas was even more special because Margaret's eldest son Mitchel, who is serving in the RAF and had been on duty in Malaysia for nine months, returned for the family gathering.

"It was wonderful to have everyone here and all fit and healthy," says Margaret.

"We had been in touch with Mitchel by email, but it was the first time he had seen Louise since the operation."

Now, after six months off work, Margaret is fighting fit again.

"I don't notice only having one kidney," she says. "Not only has the transplant changed Louise's life, but I feel great too."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/2007/12/28/doctors-said-i-was-too-fat-to-save-my-girl-s-life-89520-20267255/