A Huddersfield mum has prolonged the agony of her own kidney disease in order to save her son.
Amanda Littlewood, 38, from Longwood has suffered with polycystic kidney disease all her adult life.
With her kidneys failing, forcing her to spend three days a week in hospital, her husband John Paul stepped forward and said he would donate one of his.
But the life-saving procedure has been put on hold after the family got the devastating news that their eight-year-old son Zac may need the surgery.
The tragic development wasn’t a total surprise as the family have a long history with the inherited killer disease.
“I got diagnosed when I was 18,” said Amanda. “But my mum, my brother and my grandma already had it.
“My mum got a transplant about five years ago and my brother had one last year.
“My husband was all set to donate one of his kidneys to me but then we found out our youngest Zac needed it.
“I said to him, hold off and see if Zac can have it.”
Amanda’s two other children, nine-year-old Millie and 18-year-old Cathan have had no problems so far but are yet to get the all clear from doctors.
But Zac, who attends Moorlands Primary School, is struggling and urgently needs the transplant.
The poorly youngster’s problems are all the worse as he also suffers with epilepsy.
Amanda said she had been surprised at how few donors there are in Britain.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has revealed it secured just 10 donors in 2014/15 – fewer than one a month.
“I was really shocked,” said Amanda.
“I thought there would be a lot more than that, especially now there’s a lot more information about it.
“We’ve been told the waits have gone up for kidneys. It used to be about two years and now it’s four.
“I’ve been on the list since November 2013 and I’ve not had one phone call about it.
“Some people get called in and then the donor isn’t suitable but I’ve not gone through that yet.
“But I’ve got to keep my phone on 24/7 – both my mum and my brother got the calls for their transplants in the night.”
Amanda said her illness had forced to retire from her work as a learning disability nurse in August last year.
And she said the lengthy wait for news was a constant torment on her life.
“I have good days and bad days,” she said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster. I want to get the call but then when you do you know it’s because someone has lost a loved one.
“It is hard, I have to go to Halifax three times a week for dialysis as there isn’t room at Huddersfield.
“After dialysis I can get quite tired and lethargic so my husband has to be around to look after the kids.
“I try to look at it that there’s people worse off than me but sometimes I don’t want to go to dialysis.
“It’s totally taken over my life.
“We used to be able to pack up the car and go away with the kids but we can’t do that now.”
About 70,000 adults and children in the UK have polycystic kidney disease – life-threatening inherited conditions that can cause kidney failure and affect other organs in the body.
