John’s Story

In 2009, I became the first man in Scotland to donate a kidney altruistically.

Before it was even legally permissible to do so, I had already determined that I wanted to donate my kidney to a stranger. It felt like the right thing to do – it didn’t even occur to me that it wouldn’t be legal at the time!

I’m a vet, so I was already fully aware that we are born with two kidneys but only need one to live a full and healthy life. To me, it felt like a tragedy for all the scientists who put in the hard work and development on allowing someone to donate a kidney while they’re alive, then for there still to be people living on dialysis and dying for want of a kidney. It was a no-brainer for me to go through the tests and see if I could donate.

Paving the way

The first thing I did was tell my GP that I wanted to donate a kidney to someone in need. His view wasn’t exactly positive (it simply wasn’t something that was done at the time!), but he still passed my details onto the renal unit in Edinburgh and things went on from there.

The tests took around 18 months or so. At first it was just to see if I even could donate, but the whole time I hoped that it would result in me donating to a stranger.

In one of my first interviews as part of the testing process, I was introduced to a surgeon. He was quite blunt with me, and said I was too fat to donate a kidney. In retrospect I can see how sensible it was for him to test my resolve, and it was something which I really appreciate. Rather than putting me off, it gave me motivation. I asked how much I would need to lose to be eligible. He told me, and just like that I had a goal. I went off, and soon after I had lost the weight. I knew I wanted to do whatever was necessary to donate and help someone in greater need than myself.

After that, testing was pretty seamless. I honestly don’t remember much about it – which shows how easy it must have been! Before I knew it, I had been given the go ahead to donate a kidney altruistically (at this point the law had been changed to allow people to donate to a stranger) and I was given a date for my transplant to take place.

Again, I can’t remember transplant day in too much detail – which once more shows how easy it must have been, as I’d remember if there had been any issues. I had previously had a hip operation, so knew what to generally expect on the day itself. What I do remember is that, once I woke up after the operation, I wasn’t in as much pain as I had expected. In those days it wasn’t done with keyhole surgery as I believe it is now. It certainly wasn’t any more painful than my hip op. Before I knew it, I was back to my old self as if it had never happened. I take my hat off to the surgeons who operated on me!

I listen to Radio 4 a lot, so on a whim one day I wrote to the producers of Ramblings with Claire Balding. It ended up being a good shot, and some months later a few of us appeared on her show hiking through Fife and discussing our donations.

A year or so after the episode aired, the producer got back in touch to say they had been contacted by someone who was so moved by our episode that she began the testing process and eventually donated a kidney herself. That was an incredible feeling, to know our publicity helped another donation somewhere out there to happen.

Unbelievably, a second person who had learnt of that additional donor then also donated to a stranger! So that small piece of publicity has saved two more lives.

Looking back

My donation has improved my life immensely. The satisfaction it has given me knowing I could improve the life of someone out there at such little cost to myself, along with all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way, makes me wake up every morning with a smile.

I had always heard that doing a charitable act makes you feel good. I can confirm, it really does! It was never something I’d considered before donating, but I’m so happy to have discovered the feeling afterwards.