Sheffield woman gives birth to "miracle" baby after gift of life from her own mum
“It’s a miracle”
A Sheffield woman has defied the odds after successfully giving birth to a healthy baby boy, after her mum donated a kidney to her.
Lauren Fox, aged 30, from Arbourthorne, has become one of only a handful in the UK to become a mother following a living donor kidney transplantation.
Lauren’s mum, Alydia Fox, 53, gifted her kidney six years ago at the Sheffield Kidney Institute, a specialist kidney transplant unit at the Northern General Hospital.
Baby Elijah was born on Wednesday, August 12, and Lauren said that without her mum’s donation, “he wouldn’t be here”.
When she was just eight years old, Lauren was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy, where immune proteins get trapped in the kidney filters, causing kidney damage over time.
She recalls what it was like dealing with this diagnosis almost 20 years ago.
She said: “I think when I first got it, I was in hospital for like two months.
“I remember going into A&E and the doctors all came in because it was quite rare at the time, I was just pulled in a lot. I kind of just accepted it.”
In 2014, when she was 18, she was told she would need a transplant at some point in the future.
“It’s progressive, so it was always going to fail, no matter what,” she said.
Then, in 2019, she caught a virus, and this time her kidney function never recovered, meaning a transplant was her only option.
She said: “We always knew they were going to fail, so I cried a lot. But I think I was just told in hospital that it's now, my kidneys have gone down to 14 per cent.”
Mum, Alydia had pre-emptively tested to see if she was able to donate her kidney - and found she was.
The family had already done this “because they were failing anyway”.
So in August 2020, Lauren underwent the transplant.
She said: “Obviously it’s a good thing, but there was a lot to take in. It’s a big change and a big operation.”
Her mum Alydia said it transformed her daughter's life and “the difference it has made is amazing”.
She added: “I didn’t have any repercussions from the transplant, we switched a bit to start with, I had no energy whereas she did, but I was back to work in six weeks, and I’ve got my daughter and now a grandson.”
Lauren said she was was “a lot better” after the surgery, and could return to normal life.
In spring last year, her and her partner, Oliver, decided to start trying for a baby.
However, there were risks involved as pregnancy places strain on the kidneys even in those who do not have transplanted organs.
But after a consultation giving her the green light, the couple decided to go ahead, and in December last year, she discovered she was pregnant.
Lauren said: “The first thing I did was cry on Oliver, and then rang Becky (her friend) and went straight over.”
She decided to keep it a secret from her parents for about eight weeks, but after needing to go to the hospital on one occasion, she “had to break it to them”, and said her mum was in tears after hearing the exciting news.
Lauren admitted she “didn’t know it was that rare”, which she was grateful for, as “it would have put more pressure” on her to conceive.
Doctors told Lauren that she may have preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related condition that meant she had high blood pressure. Because of this, she signed a consent form for an elective c-section.
Despite all the risk factors, Lauren gave birth to Elijah through c-section at 37 weeks.
Now, five weeks later, Lauren is doing well as a new mother and says Elijah is “really chunky and is so strong”.
Mum, Alydia, said: “It’s a miracle. I think if you can be a living donor, just do it. It saved my daughter's life and has given me another grandchild.”
Agreeing, grateful Lauren said: “It just changes people’s lives.”
Lauren’s story is just one of many showing the impact organ donation can have on someone’s life as part of Organ Donation Week, which runs from Monday, September 21, to Sunday, September 27.
It aims to raise awareness encouraging people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Statistics from NHS Blood and Transplant show that 871 women in the UK transplanted with a kidney have reported a pregnancy since 2000, showing how rare Lauren’s case is.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is a major centre for kidney transplantation, performing around 60 to 70 kidney transplantations a year, including 20 living donor transplants a year.
Caroline Basarab-Horwath, Living Donor Coordinator at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It's always a privilege to be part of the living donor recipient's journey and to work so closely with families over such a long period of time.
“To see families develop is absolutely amazing. Organ donation really is the gift of life, so this Organ Donation Week, please register your decision to donate and share your wishes as giving the gift of life through kidney donation is one of the most generous acts possible."
Mr Yazin Marie, Transplant Surgeon at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who carried out the procedure to implant Lauren's mum's kidney after she donated it to her daughter, said: “I would like to congratulate Lauren on the birth of baby Elijah which is a powerful reminder to all of us that accepting the selfless gift of a live donor organ is not just saving a life but it’s also saving and preserving families.”
As part of National Organ Donation week, here are some statistics that show what Sheffield have achieved in organ donation:
- The first kidney transplant from a deceased ook place in Sheffield in 1969
- The first living donor transplant that took place in Sheffield in 1973
- The first non-directed altruistic donor in Sheffield happened in 2013, meaning a person who anonymously donated an organ to a complete stranger
- 23 people in total have donated to a stranger in Sheffield
- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have carried out around 1972 transplants from deceased donors and 483 from living donors in Sheffield
Lauren said the trust supported Lauren and her family throughout her pregnancy, and reflecting on her experience, Lauren says she “couldn’t fault the care” she received.