'I wanted to make a real difference to my son’s life' - Three South Yorkshire dads make kidney donations
Three dads in South Yorkshire have given up their kidneys in life-saving donations.
Dale Marshall, Liam Bridges and Jozef Pokuta have all donated kidneys at the Sheffield Kidney Institute at the Northern General Hospital this year.
Their kidneys were then transported to the paediatric transplant centre at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and transplanted into their children.
Their children had life-limiting kidney conditions which would otherwise have required lifelong dialysis.
Dale Marshall
“I wanted to make a real difference to my son’s life,” said 40-year-old Dale after donating his kidney to his nine-year-old son Austin back in July.
The young boy, who is an identical twin, was born with low kidney function, and his parents always knew that he may need a transplant some day.
As such, Dale - who is now back to work as a data cabling engineer - decided to make a change in his life, taking up a healthier lifestyle to keep his kidney in good condition if the day ever came.
“It got to the point about a year ago that we were told Austin would benefit from having a kidney from a donor,” he added.
“From then the process started for finding a suitable match for him. Me and his mum, Sarah, were the closest matches but after testing I was the most suitable donor.
“Because I’ve always known that he might need a kidney one day, I made a few lifestyle changes to take good care of it – I ate a better diet and stopped drinking alcohol. The surgeon said it was a beautiful kidney, so it was good to know that I’d taken care of it.
“I wanted to make a real difference to my son’s life, and I am just glad that he’s got what he needed, which is a healthy kidney.”
Within two weeks of the transplant, Austin had grown three centimetres and within six weeks he was back at swimming lessons.
Doctors believe that without the transplant, he would have been on dialysis for the rest of his life, take trips to hospital twice a week
He said: “You can see that Austin’s grown, that he’s got a bit more strength. When I pick him up from school I used to be able to easily tell him apart from his twin brother, but the first pick-up after the operation I was thinking ‘is that Austin?’
“He has been great about it – he knows it is better for him to have the kidney and he is over the moon, and his brother is as well.”
Liam Bridges
In September, 37-year-old Liam donated his kidney to his teenage son Keeton.
The 14-year-old from Swinton had a condition called Posterior urethral valve (PUV), where tissue blocks the urethra - the condition can lead to kidney failure.
About 18 months ago Keeton was rushed into hospital with an infection and tests showed his kidney function had dropped to 14 per cent. It was at that point that a transplant and kidney donation was discussed.
“I didn’t give it a second thought, your kids mean everything to you,” Liam said.
“Without a transplant he would have been on dialysis and we would have been back and forth to Nottingham every few days which would have been really hard for him. I went for all the testing and everything matched.”
In just a few months, Keeton is already showing significant improvements.
And Liam, who works as a cladder, says that his son’s a ‘good lad’ and is ‘doing really well’.
“He’s always been quite small for his age, he looked poorly, but he’s put weight on already and he’s got colour in his cheeks,” he added.
“He’s been out walking, gone to the supermarket, he’s doing really well.
“Before he had to have quite a restricted diet, he couldn’t eat anything with salt in, so he’s enjoying having a few treats. He’s a good lad, you wouldn’t know everything that he’s been through.
“I feel proud. It’s not going to affect my life, I can carry on doing everything I’ve done before, but it will make a big difference to Keeton’s life.
“The staff here have been brilliant, checking up on me and coming to see me. They’re always on the phone if I need to call.”
Jozef Pokuta
Jozef, 28, of Sheffield, donated to his eight-year-old daughter Shayana in March.
Shayana had chronic kidney disease which was progressing and giving her symptoms such as high blood pressure, weight loss, a build up of fluid next to her heart and blood in her urine.
She was having to undergo dialysis three times a week.
Jozef said: “We wanted Shayana to be able to go back to school and live a normal life. The outlook without a transplant was not good and we knew that there could be a wait for a kidney donor, and so that is why I decided to put myself forward.
“Since the transplant every day is better, she is drinking like normal, she is back at school, she can see her friends and play outside. She likes drawing and writing and dancing. She’s been very brave.
“I am feeling fine and the treatment I have had at the hospital has been really good.”
Jozef’s wife, Dagmara, said: “Shayana is very happy and says she loves Jozef so much.”
Caroline Basarab-Horwath, Living Donor Coordinator at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, supported Dale, Liam and Jozef through their donations.
She said: “It has been such a privilege to support these incredible dads through the donation process and their operations. The highlight for me was when they video-called their children the following day, and I got to witness the joy of seeing them smiling back at their dads looking so well."
To find out more about organ donation and living donation, visit the NHS website here.
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