A landmark kidney transplant that saved the life of a Halifax woman will offer hope to the thousands of patients awaiting transplants, says a research specialist.
Healthcare worker Samira Kauser, 22, received a kidney from the youngest donor in the UK, a five-week-old baby. The tiny organs were transplanted in Leeds during a seven hour operation.
Now renal consultant, Dr Andrew Mooney, of the Brighouse-based Yorkshire Kidney Research Fund, says boundaries need to be pushed further to continue making inroads into the transplant waiting list.
“At any one time, there are about six thousand patients in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant,” said Dr Mooney.
“This surgery is part of a major effort to increase rates of transplantation because for many years the transplant list has sadly grown and grown. People are falling ill with kidney failure and transplant rates have not been able to keep up.
“But this is part of an effort to expand the donor pool and find more opportunities to provide this gift of life for patients.
“This is very good news. It is tinged with sadness that there is a family who are tragically grieving, but this family has done a wonderful, loving thing, to give a gift of life when they are so upset and bereaved themselves.”
Dr Mooney described the pioneering surgery by Mr Niaz Ahmed and his team, at St James’s Hospital in Leeds as a fantastic technical feat.
