A Mother’s plea: Can you donate a kidney and save my son’s life?
Reposted From Nottingham Post Website
DESPERATE mum Jackie Meht is pleading for a stranger to step forward and save her son’s life.
Brave Kieran has been waiting for a kidney transplant for 13 years after two other donated kidneys – including one from his mother – failed. And he’s running out of time.
Since being diagnosed with renal failure when he was four, the 33-year-old has faced a battle for survival. He has endured endless hospital visits and faced death numerous times.
Mrs Meht says his only chance is if someone offers to give him a kidney. And the best match for Kieran would be a donor from the Asian community.
“I am finding it hard as a mother, every time he goes into hospital I think this is it,” the 51-year-old psychotherapist said. Kieran – who has managed to study for GCSEs, a degree and now a Masters as well as working as a counsellor for drug addicts alongside all his treatments – says a donation would have a “massive impact”.
He currently needs four hours of dialysis four times a week. “It would mean my life would belong to them,” he said.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust consultant general and transplant surgeon Keith Rigg, who has operated on Kieran twice, said it was “very unlikely” he would find a donor on the usual transplant list.
“He’s done remarkably well to come through it all and still be so positive.”
He added: “I can totally understand why they are desperate. There may be someone out there who’s a very good match but we won’t know until they come forward. Overall we know fewer Asian people will donate, but it’s most likely to need to come from someone in that community.”
FOUR years after a transplanted kidney from his mum failed, Kieran Meht was given another gift of life.
An anonymous donor’s kidney was accepted by the 33-year-old’s body and for six years the Beeston man had a normal existence – without relying on dialysis machines.
“It gave me freedom. It meant I could be a child at that time,” he said.
“In hospital there’s a stigma attached of there being something wrong with you but for those years I was Kieran.”
But in 2001 that second kidney failed and Kieran – who was diagnosed with kidney problems when he was four and had renal failure by the time he was nine – was plunged back into a life of hospitals, tests and medical equipment.
Thirteen years on and Kieran’s family are losing hope of finding another donor and have appealed for anyone who might be a match to step forward.
Mum Jackie Meht has already had to watch medics resuscitate Kieran after an operation and fears for the future. The 51-year-old, who works in Worcestershire, always feels that the next time he enters hospital could be the last time he
“He will eventually die,” she said.
For Kieran, the problem of finding a donor is even more acute than for many people as his body has been put under such strain by illness and previous operations that a near-perfect match is likely to be needed.
“We’re really struggling to find him a kidney,” mum Jackie said. “His consultant is saying it’s hard because he’s had two transplants in the past and that makes it more difficult. That’s devastating for us and it’s really hit the family hard.
“Finding a donor, it would mean actually giving somebody a life to live and to carry on helping others as he is doing.
“We’ve been through so much with him. But we will always fight.”
Kieran’s story sounds hard enough but it has been made even more difficult with numerous infections, a weakened immune system and repeated attempts to find ways for his body to be attached to dialysis machines – leaving him visibly scarred.
Jackie is rightly proud of a son who is still positive and working to help others as a counsellor despite all he has to contend with.
She said: “He’s such a remarkable lad. He passed his GCSES, went off to college, went to university. He’s fought the illness and he’s trying to achieve everything he can.”
Kieran – who has a brother and a sister – is not one to moan or lament he cards he has been dealt. He just wants to make the most of his life, a life which someone out there could extend.
He said: “If you are looking on the outside in, people think he has a tough life but I see it as it’s either this way or I spend the rest of my life doing nothing and I don’t make value of my life. That’s all I want – to help people and make the most of my life.”
He added: “I do worry, but just about how my parents will cope when I am not around. My mum has given her life for me – she’s done everything in her power to allow me to have the life I’ve got.”
If you want to help Kieran contact the Post on 0115 9051951 or email [email protected] or 0777 3650721 / [email protected]