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A woman desperate for a kidney transplant is really going the extra mile to find a donor.

Sunaina Singh, 37, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2013 and her health has severely deteriorated since then.

She has to attend University Hospital Coventry three times a week for gruelling four-hour sessions of dialysis that leave her exhausted.

After being on the organ donor waiting list for two years - and having two life-changing operations heartbreakingly cancelled at the last moment - she has now taken the search into her own hands.

Sunaina and her husband Ram Kumar, also 37, have both decorated the back windscreen of their cars with a desperate plea to find her a suitable donor.

The message reads: "I need a kidney. Type 'O' blood" and urges anyone who can help to get in touch with them on 07789 761 236.

Sunaina said she was inspired to try the unusual method after reading about someone in America who had successfully found a donor the same way.

"We just want to get it out there to as many people as possible, you never know," she said.

Lives on hold

The couple, who live in Brindle Avenue, Copsewood, have currently got their lives on hold.

They cannot travel to India to see either of their families as the risk of infection is too high, and heartbreakingly cannot start a family until her health improves.

"I only went to hospital with a tummy pain and they did the blood tests then," Sunaina said.

"That was around six or seven years ago and then we found out that I have chronic kidney disease.

"At the time my kidney function was around 25 per cent.

"I still get people saying that I don't look like I have a kidney problem.

"At first I was like this can't happen to me, everything will be fine.

"But in the last few years I have deteriorated very badly. I feel such tiredness all the time, I am suffering with pain and with my health overall.

"When I come back from dialysis all I do is sleep because I can't do anything else."

Appeal reaching far and wide

The couple have only had the plea stuck on their cars for around four weeks but have already been getting interest from up and down the country.

Ram Kumar, who travels across the country as part of the couple's franchisee business Cake Box, said he had been contacted by people wanting to help from as far away as Bolton.

He said: "I was in the north and someone saw it. A 26-year-old girl from Bolton called and said she really wanted to donate a kidney out of the blue.

"We asked her to talk about it with her family as it's such a big ask, so we're waiting to hear back."

He said friends had also offered to share the message on their car windows too in a bid to speed up the process.

Chances snatched away

Ram Kumar has already tried to save his wife, offering up his own kidney.

But despite him being the right blood type, the couple were given the devastating news that he is not a suitable donor.

"I can't give it directly to Sunaina because of antibodies," he explained.

The couple are signed up to a pair exchange list, also known as a 'kidney swap' which occurs when a living kidney donor is incompatible with the recipient, and so exchanges kidneys with another donor/recipient pair.

But heartbreakingly two scheduled operations have both been cancelled at the last minute.

Ram Kumar said: "The first time on there we get a pair, but we went to hospital and was told that the recipient was too sick for it to go ahead. That was a real blow."

"It was really bad. I cried all night," Sunaina added.

"The bad luck was that it got cancelled again the second time as they also got sick."

Please sign up

As well as trying to find a donor to improve her own life, Sunaina urged others to join the organ donor registry in a bid to help others.

She said: "Most definitely I appeal for people to join the organ donor registry, especially Asian people as there is a really short supply of organs in the community."

You can find out more about signing up to the registry here: www.organdonation.nhs.uk

To read more about Sunaina's story, and contact the couple, search Facebook for 'An appeal for kidney donation for Sunaina'.

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