Loving Sheffield woman gave her husband a kidney just days before lockdown

Charlotte Morton, 43, gave her husband Paul, 49, one of her kidneys after a previous transplant he had received when he was just 16 years old began to fail.

The transplant took place in the renal unit at Northern General Hospital on March 12, with Charlotte being discharged just four days later and Paul a day after that, less than a week before the UK-wide coronavirus ‘lockdown’ was imposed by the Government on March 23.

Since then, the devoted couple have been quarantined at their Bolsterstone home, relying on friends and relatives for essential supplies and taking occasional walks nearby for exercise.

She said: “We knew that we were going to be locked down until June 12 anyway so we did a really big shop and got plenty of stuff in.

“But we have been really lucky that my mum and dad have been coming with food and my best friend brought us meals every day at the beginning.

“We are also lucky as we have a smallholding with plenty of space to get out of the house and take a walk with the dog.”

The so-called ‘altruistic transplant’ given to him by Charlotte was Paul’s second, with the first lasting for more than 30 years before it began to fail.

His doctors have told him the failure was caused by a course of chemotherapy he was undergoing after he contracted Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, with the cancer itself thought to have been brought about by the anti-rejection drugs he had been taking since his initial transplant.

Nevertheless, despite Paul’s recent run of ill health, Charlotte says the last few months have been ‘lovely'.

“Life is good and we are so lucky,” she said.

“Thank you to the amazing team at the Northern General Hospital for looking after us.”

In 2018, the renal unit at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals celebrated 50 years of kidney transplants in the city by bringing together dozens of patients whose lives had been transformed by the pioneering surgery.