Sarah’s Story

Many years ago, I worked for Social Services and had two clients who both required organ transplants. One, an older gentleman had a kidney transplant which enabled him to continue working; the other, a young man who was waiting for a heart transplant. He died before a heart became available, leaving a wife and two young children. 

Since then, I have known people who have had kidney transplants and know what a life-changing experience it is for them. I also know mothers who wanted to donate for their children and have seen their great disappointment when they were not able to. I always wondered why only family members could donate a kidney, so when I picked up a leaflet from the charity Give a Kidney about non-directed living kidney donation, I immediately knew it was what I was going to do. 

Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic slowed things up a bit for my donation, but once I had my initial meeting with the transplant team, things moved very quickly to get my various tests done. One of the team at the charity was able to talk me through the various stages, which was a great help as I had not told anyone except my husband what I was doing. 

I was originally going to donate into the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme to trigger a chain of transplants, but unfortunately the chain was unable to proceed. Instead, I donated directly to an anonymous individual on the transplant waiting list.  

I found the whole process of going through the tests really interesting. Everyone was so friendly and encouraging, there was no pressure at any stage.  

On the morning of my operation, my living donor nurse visited me on the ward and walked down to the operating room with me. She then kept visiting me each morning while I was in hospital. I felt great the day after the operation, but unfortunately was sick the following day and nauseous for a few days afterwards. 

Once home my recovery was quite quick and a few months later I was back to doing everything I had done previously. The response from friends and family since the operation has been very positive. Having been told that the kidney had been successfully transplanted into the recipient, I am so pleased and feel lucky that I am well enough to have been able to donate a kidney.