Donor organs don't just save lives - they transform them. And my family is proof!



'I feel as if I am really living again,' said Michael Lord

There’s a letter Michael Lord wants to write. The trouble is he can’t find the right words to use.



‘Thank you isn’t enough — nor is: “You saved my life.” I just don’t know how to express my gratitude,’ says the father of one from Rotherham.



The letter is for the family whose loved one’s kidney was donated to Michael five years ago.

It has been a lifesaver in more ways than one.



Without it, his days would have involved an endless cycle of kidney dialysis — three-and-a-half hours at a time, three days a week.



Long-term, this places an intolerable strain on the body, and without a transplant, patients usually die.



But life on dialysis was barely an existence, says Michael.



For four years, from the age of 18, he fought life-sapping lethargy.



‘I felt as if I was dragging my legs through treacle,’ he says.



He felt so drained that he spent much of the time when he wasn’t on dialysis slumped on the sofa.



‘It wasn’t what I wanted to do — I wanted to be making my way in life and having fun.’



Instead, he could only watch enviously as his friends went off to university or began carving out careers.



‘Some days, I would look around the dialysis clinic and feel despair — seeing how long some people had waited and how ill they had become.



‘I’d lie there thinking about the future — and how unlikely it was that I would ever have a wife or a family.



‘I was so bloated from the build-up of fluid in my body I didn’t see how anyone would want to marry me.’



He had to be fastidious about what he ate — avoiding salt, phosphorous (which meant no potatoes), calcium and dairy because these put extra strain on his kidneys.



Unable to excrete urine as normal, he had to restrict his fluid intake to less than a litre a day.



‘At times I thought “I can’t take one more round of dialysis, another pill, another day without any energy”. I’d sometimes get so upset I’d cry.’

'There were times in the past when I never thought I would have a life like this - with a wonderful wife-to-be and a beautiful daughter,' said Michael (pictured with his fiancee Kim and their daughter Alexa)

But almost overnight, thanks to a kidney transplant, his life has been transformed.

His career has taken off — he’s now in a managerial position — and best of all he has become a father and is hoping to marry soon.



‘I feel as if I am really living again,’ he says.



Michael never forgets how lucky he is. There are 10,000 people in Britain waiting for a transplant — the vast majority for a kidney — and of those, three die every day because a donor is not found in time.



The impact of getting to the top of the list is huge: a donated kidney can extend life expectancy three-fold.



But the truth is that you are more likely to need a donor organ than to become a donor yourself.



From 2011 to 2012, there were three times more transplants carried out than the number of people who became donors, according to NHS Blood and Transfusion.



And often that need strikes suddenly and at random, as it did for Michael.



He was a sporty teenager who was doing so well at school that he had won a scholarship to Leeds University. His dream was to become a lawyer.



But while he was doing his A-levels, he felt tired all the time and nauseous. He went to his GP three times in 18 months, but was told there was no cause for concern.



However, when he developed a blood blister on his tongue he took himself to A&E where he was advised to have a blood test.



The results a day later were bad enough to prompt his GP to send him to hospital straight away for further tests. An ultrasound showed he was in the late stages of renal (kidney) failure.



His kidneys were so diseased they’d shrunk from the normal 10-12cm to just 4cm.



There is no family history of kidney failure. ‘The doctors said it could have been caused by a rugby injury, such as a blow to the kidney area,’ he says.



Michael was put on dialysis, which means a machine washed his blood of toxins. His kidney function was so poor he was put straight on to the transplant list.



‘When you are on dialysis, your health — not to mention your quality of life — deteriorates,’ says Vassilios Papalois, a consultant transplant surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare Trust.



‘It pushes up blood pressure, increases the risk of heart disease and ultimately the patient’s veins can collapse so they can no longer receive dialysis.’



Desperate to help his son, Michael’s father Steven, then 44, offered to donate a kidney.



The steelworker was a good match, but at 17st and 6ft he was too overweight to go through the surgery because of the health risks to him. So he joined a gym to lose weight.



Meanwhile, Michael had dialysis, in which a line is inserted into the neck or arm and blood extracted. Litres of fluid have to be drained from the body as his kidneys can no longer excrete fluid and toxins.



‘They would weigh me before and after, and I would lose as much as three kilograms during the process,’ says Michael.



'I can just concentrate on being a dad and a good partner to Kim,' said Michael

The process often leaves patients feeling drained as a result of the dramatic drop in blood pressure and the physical effect of having their blood pumped in and out of a machine.



Within a year, Michael’s father Steven had lost five stone and the transplant could go ahead.



‘I felt upset and guilty as I watched him walk past my bed on his way to theatre,’ says Michael.



‘I knew it would take him months to recover from surgery.’



That’s because a donor’s operation is more involved and their body has to get used to functioning with one kidney.



The operation took three hours and, tragically, it became almost immediately clear the transplant hadn’t worked. The donated kidney developed a blood clot.



Normally, receiving an organ from a living donor stands more chance of success (94 per cent compared to 88 per cent from the organ donor register), partly because the quicker a transplanted organ is put into the recipient the better the chances of it working.



With the surgery having failed, the next day Michael had another operation to have his father’s kidney removed.



His diseased kidneys had been left in place as removing them from their protected position within the ribcage is difficult surgery.

‘It was a low point, though my dad’s attitude was he was glad we at least tried,’ says Michael.



‘The doctors said my next option was to see if my mum or little brother was a suitable donor, but I couldn’t put them through it.’ Instead, he went back on dialysis.



‘I had a girlfriend, but the relationship was difficult because of my lack of energy and the fact that dialysis ruled my life.



‘I couldn’t have a full-time job either.’



At most, he managed 16 hours a week at Superdrug, who were, he says, ‘very understanding’.



‘In the back of my mind I hoped for a donor kidney, but I tried not to let that hope rule my life. At home we never talked about it because there was no certainty I would get a suitable donor.’



The psychological impact of waiting for a transplant is immense.



‘It’s difficult on the entire family,’ says Mr Papalois. ‘It can be hard to keep the hope going.’



Michael lived like this for three years, until the day he will never forget — October 24, 2007. At 2am, he was woken by his father waving a piece of paper in his face.



‘Dad seemed flustered. He said: “Ring this number.” The transplant co-ordinator hadn’t been able to get through on my mobile so they had called his.’



A potential donor kidney had been found and Michael had to go straight to hospital. As soon as tests confirmed the kidney was a match, Michael was in surgery.



‘I awoke at 5am and instantly I felt lighter and brighter than I had done in years,’ says Michael.



‘Rather than feeling fuzzy-headed, I could think straight. And even though I was recovering from the anaesthesia I had more energy.’



Within two weeks Michael was ready to go home with a host of pills to take daily to prevent his body rejecting the donor organ. His life started afresh.



‘I started learning to drive — I’d felt too foggy-headed before to do that — and I could work full-time. I could eat what I liked. Before, I felt as if my life was on hold. Now I felt free again.



‘We could plan a family holiday —something we hadn’t done for years. We went camping in Northumberland and it was wonderful to be care-free.’



HOW YOU CAN HELP Since the Daily Mail launched this vital campaign, 45,000 more people have joined the organ donor register.

To sign up for organ donation, go to organdonation.nhs.uk, call the NHS Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 or text SAVE to 84118.

You can also join when registering for a driving licence, applying for a Boots Advantage card, registering at a GP surgery or applying for a European Health Insurance card.

He met his fiancee Kim, now 23, in 2008 and two years ago their daughter Alexa was born.



‘There were times in the past when I never thought I would have a life like this — with a wonderful wife-to-be and a beautiful daughter.



'It is still so wonderful for me not to worry about dialysis — I can just concentrate on being a dad and a good partner to Kim.’



There is a chance Michael will need another kidney in the future, as a donated kidney lasts on average ten to 12 years.



But for now the only legacy of his previous ill health is that the immune suppressing drugs he takes make him prone to coughs and colds.



He is otherwise fit and well — and preparing to take part in the Transplant Games in the 800m and 1,500 metres in the summer.



Meanwhile, never far from his thoughts are his donor and their family.



‘I feel very sad that they passed away, but hope they would be glad their wishes had been observed and that some good might come out of their passing.



‘I will never take for granted what they did for me nor abuse the good health I have as a result.’



Kim and Michael’s brother have joined the organ donor register. His father is a blood donor.



‘You don’t realise the impact a transplant can have unless you have been through it, as my family has been,’ says Michael.

