Mum of Blackburn kidney transplant boy calls for more donors (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Mum of Blackburn kidney transplant boy calls for more donors

3:02pm Friday 26th June 2009 in

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A MOTHER from East Lancashire has helped to launch a major new organ donation campaign after her son turned his life around with two kidney transplants.

Three people a day die waiting for a transplant nationwide and the new scheme, backed by local campaigner Parveen Awan, aims to improve the statistic that the UK has one of the lowest rates of organ donation in Europe.

Mrs Awan, who runs the local Kidney Support Group, based in Blackburn, said organ transplants had transformed her 23-year-old son Faizan’s life.

She said: “My son was born with a condition that caused his kidneys to fail, so he was fed through a nose tube for the first three years of his life. When he was three years old he had a transplant of a kidney from an 18-month-old baby.

“Afterwards, his colour changed dramatically. He had rosy cheeks for the first time.

“I still remember vividly when he asked for chicken and chips.

“That was the first time he had been able to have food by mouth. Just watching him eat was a miracle as far as I was concerned.

“Gradually, the same thing happened and his kidney failed again.

“He was on dialysis again, but it was much more difficult when he was a teenager.

“He would say ‘Why am I attached to a machine at six in the evening when all my friends are out playing football?’ “His education suffered because he missed school, he lost his friends and he caught every illness going. It was horrendous to watch him.

“He was on the waiting list for a kidney and we waited and waited and waited.

“Eventually, we did what any parents would and looked into giving him one of our kidneys. My husband, Khalid, was the best match so he gave Faizan one of his.

“Faizan’s life was transformed again – that was when he was 13.

“He’s 23 now and got the chance to go to college and university, although problems with his medication meant he had to drop out of university.

“I’m really excited and encouraged by the new campaigns by the Organ Donation Campaign to promote donation because I’ve seen how it can change lives.

“Bringing up a child with kidney disease is a continual uphill struggle and is something I would not wish any other parent to have to go through.”

The Organ Donation Campaign is organised by the NHS.

For more information on the Blackburn with Darwen Kidney Support Group call 01254 688440.