Want the top news headlines sent to your inbox daily? Sign up to our FREE newsletter below Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A young kidney patient who made history when he had his first transplant at the age of three has been forced to resort to food banks after his disability benefits were stopped.

Alex Crawley spends four hours at a time hooked to a dialysis machine to stay alive as he awaits his third life-saving transplant.

The 28-year-old says being in hospital three days a week and the exhausting effects of the treatment have left him unable to work for the past seven years.

But he and his young family have been plunged into crisis after he was deemed fit to work under government benefit reforms and rejected for the new Personal Independent Payments (PIPs).

Alex was diagnosed with dysplastic kidneys at the age of three and was gifted his first transplant by dad Andrew in 1991.

He was one of the youngest children to have a kidney transplant when he had the procedure at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

But in 2007 he had to undergo another transplant after going into renal failure again.

Sadly the second kidney did not last long and Alex has been on the waiting list for seven years, going to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital for dialysis three times a week as the search continues for a new donor.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

The dad-of-one has been unable to work since going back on dialysis.

“The treatment completely drains me - I have no energy,” he said.

“When I get home from hospital I have to go straight to bed and I’m pretty much out of action the next day as well.

“I struggle with simple day-to-day tasks, and there are severe time restrictions when you’re going back and forth to hospital all the time.

“I used to work as a chef and I’ve tried other jobs but they weren’t understanding about how much time I needed to have off - I could be rushed into hospital at short notice at any time.”

Alex formerly received Disability Living Allowance (DLA) but has been re-assessed as the government phases out DLA and replaces it with Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Earlier this month he received a letter saying his claim for the benefit had been rejected following an assessment.

He said: “The assessments are so embarrassing - you’re just like a monkey jumping through hoops to show them what you can do.

“I was struggling to do things that a lot of people find easy, like putting my hands above my head

“At the end of it I broke down because I was so embarrassed about what I should be able to do at my age.

“I finally got the letter to say I’d been rejected but there were so many discrepancies between what they said I could do and what I actually can.

“They said I can bathe on my own and eat meals on my own, but I told them that’s not true.”

Alex’s partner Cassandra Liddle, 30, is a full-time carer for Alex, but has also had her Carer’s Allowance stopped.

It means the couple, who have an 11-month-old son, Leland, are living off Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) payments of £372 every two weeks.

Alex is intending to appeal the Department of Work and Pensions’ decision, but said the family were struggling to cope in the meantime and had resorted to going to foodbanks.

“Once we’ve paid the bills and sorted the baby out there’s virtually nothing left.

“It’s so distressing - I keep breaking down because we’re struggling so much.”

The story, with echoes of Newcastle-set drama I, Daniel Blake, comes as Ken Loach used his BAFTA acceptance speech to brand the government “callous” and “brutal”.

The drama, which follows the lives of people in the North East struggling to survive under the benefit regime, won the award for Outstanding British Film on Sunday night.

Accepting the award, Mr Loach said: “Thank you to the academy for endorsing the truths of what the film says, which hundreds and thousands of people in this country know, the most vulnerable and poorest are treated by the government with a callous brutality that is disgraceful.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Decisions for PIP are made following consideration of all the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist.

“Anyone that disagrees with a decision can ask us to look at it again, and if they’re still unhappy with it they can appeal to an independent tribunal.”