Man waits 10 years for kidney transplant.. and then finds perfect match living n

[Karol]

Man waits 10 years for kidney transplant.. and then finds perfect match living next door

Feb 3 2012

AN organ transplant patient who has suffered kidney failure for 10 years couldn’t believe his luck when he found a life-saving match – from his NEIGHBOUR.
Alan Love, 31, suffers from a rare form of renal failure because of an inherited condition which means he has been on dialysis for 12 years.
Knowing that he would die without a transplant, Alan’s family were all tested but none was a match.
So Alan, who attends hospital three times a week for dialysis, was stunned to find his neighbour Gillian Paterson, 27, was a perfect match.
The pair will undergo surgery in coming weeks.
Alan, who has been unable to work or go to university because of his condition, said: “Most neighbours only pop round to borrow a cup of sugar – Gillian is giving me a kidney.
“She’s got to be the best neighbour in Scotland. I’m ecstatic – she is quite literally giving me a new lease of life.”
Alan, who lives in Raploch, Larkhall, suffers from a rare kidney condition called De Toni-Fanconi syndrome, which caused the death of his father Russell when he was only 50.
They are only the second father and son in the UK to have the condition.
Alan and Gillian have been neighbours for a number of years.
They went to Larkhall Academy as teenagers but lost touch until Gillian, who has a three-year-old girl called Jodi, moved to the neighbourhood.
She said: “I had been trying to convince Alan for years. Once we found out that we had the same blood group, I wanted to donate to him.
“But he was having none of it – he didn’t think it was fair to ask me. But eventually I managed to convince him that this is something I wanted to do for him because he is my friend and I love him.
“My own family are really supportive and my daughter calls him uncle Alan. She understands he is sick and that mummy is helping him.”
Alan said: “Gillian has undergone a number of tests.
“However, doctors told me she is the closest match I’ll get to a blood relative, which is unbelievable.
“I am really over the moon. Words can’t explain how I feel. It will change my life forever.
“I want to go to university and get a degree and hopefully work in nursing. I feel I need to give something back for what they have given me over the years.”
The transplant comes less than two months after Alan’s niece Aimee, seven, wrote a letter to Santa asking for a new Kidney for her uncle.
She wrote: “My special wish is for my uncle, who gets dialysis, to get a transplant and be well again so he can run around with me and my friend and tickle me lots.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/02/03/man-waits-10-years-for-kidney-transplant-and-then-finds-perfect-match-living-next-door-86908-23733087/