Daughter gives new life to mum

9:14am Tuesday 19th September 2006

A DAUGHTER who made a life-changing decision to donate a kidney to her 67-year-old mum is urging more people to consider the benefits of making a living donation.

Mum-of-one Jane Cutler, 47, of Glenair Road, Lower Parkstone, offered to donate one of her kidneys to grandmother-of-six Ann Clowser, who has polycystic Kidney Syndrome, to spare her years of dialysis.

Mum and daughter were operated on six weeks ago at Bristol's renal specialist centre Southmead Hospital and say they feel "fantastic".

UK Transplant, part of the NHS, described the child to parent donation as "unusual" but said living donations were becoming more common.

Ann of Salterns Road, Lower Parkstone, had her first kidney transplant 20 years ago after being diagnosed with the hereditary condition.

But 18 months ago her donated kidney packed up and Ann was forced to undergo dialysis three times a week and follow a heavily restricted diet.

Jane, who has a 17-year-old son of her own, said: "My mum has been on haemodialysis for over a year because of chronic kidney disease.

"It runs in the family but luckily it hasn't affected me. So I said I would like to be considered to donate a kidney."

The pair underwent tests which showed that there was no reason why a living donation could not take place.

"I went for very stringent tests to make sure I was in tip-top condition and mum underwent tests to make sure she could be a recipient of the kidney," said Jane.

"She's 67 and I'm 47 so we're not spring chickens. The transplant took place on August 4 in Bristol. Mum is doing fantastically and not had dialysis since," she said.

"It's been such a life-changing experience for me - it's not something you do every day. But I just feel fantastic and feel very lucky to be able to do it," she added.

According to UK Transplant only four per cent of all living kidney transplants since January 2001 have been from child to parent - 101 out of a total of 2,534 living kidney transplants.

Dominic Moody, spokesman for UK Transplant, said: "Living donation is becoming increasingly common as a way for people to help their loved ones.

"The benefits are that people don't have to register for a transplant hoping a deceased donor will become available.

"If a donation takes place between blood relatives then the chances of a match tend to be quite good. Obviously if more people signed up to the organ donor register and indicated their wish to donate after their death there wouldn't be such a need for living donation."

Around 13.6 million people are on the Organ Donor Register nationally and a quarter of all kidney transplants nationally are from living donors.

Ann said: "Obviously it was fantastic. Something you can't even dream about - I'm really just thankful for what she's done for me.

"Now I can do things I couldn't do before. There were very basic things I couldn't eat. Now I can eat anything. Jane was very very positive about it but I suppose I was a bit anxious. But all the blood tests show that the kidney is doing extremely well and couldn't do any better. People were amazed that it was Jane to me as usually it is a parent to a child so it was quite unusual."

Jane's decision has also received huge support from family members and friends added Ann.

She said: "You can be a live donor to people and you can donate a kidney providing all the tests are done. I suppose the message is don't be afraid'. You only need one kidney to survive."

People who want to donate organs should contact The Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400, visit the website below or pick up a leaflet from their local GP surgery.