Around 250 people die each year in the UK because there are not enough kidneys available ⬇️ So when GP Richard Armitage discovered altruistic donation was possible, he gave away an organ
Around 5,000 people are on the kidney transplant waiting list in the UK at any time, according to the charity Give A Kidney. For those needing a kidney transplant – usually because of end stage chronic kidney disease – the average wait for an organ from a deceased donor is two to three years. Around 250 people die each year in the UK because there are not enough kidneys available to meet the need.
And so Armitage’s first conversation with his regional kidney transplant centre was followed by an appointment with a Living Donor Nurse, who explained what donation would entail: the testing, the preparation, the surgery. Armitage was invited to speak to his loved ones and consider whether he was ready; it turned out he wasn’t.
After the first Covid peak, the kidney scheme was put back into action. But the time was not right for Armitage to donate; his mother, Diana, had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. “I wanted to be around to look after my mum,” he says, “and I didn’t want to give the family even more things to worry about when they were preoccupied with my mum’s health.”
As planned, Armitage’s surgery took 2.5 hours. His left kidney was successfully removed. The surgeons had pumped gas into his abdomen to give themselves some space to work with, so Armitage’s stomach was distended afterwards. “That caused a bit of discomfort,” he admits. Did he feel any different? “I didn’t really know what to expect,” he says. “But I felt happy. I felt a sense of satisfaction that I’d done this thing that I’d wanted to do for a long time.
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