Kidney transplant patient celebrates 40th anniversary of ground-breaking operati

[Karol]

Kidney transplant patient celebrates 40th anniversary of ground-breaking operation

6:00am Wednesday 20th November 2013 in Durham City News Photograph of the Author By Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter

PHOTO: Bob Hughes hopes to travel to London to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his operation

FORMER jockey Bob Hughes became a national celebrity 40-years-ago when he became one of the first people in the country to undergo a kidney transplant.

Then aged 25, his life was saved by his brother John who risked his own health by donating him a kidney – despite his own doctor advising against the procedure.

The story was followed closely by local and national media.

The ground-breaking transplant took place at St Thomas' Hospital in London in 1974 and Mr Hughes, now 65, remembers it vividly.

“They tried to persuade my brother not to do it. They said it was too dangerous. He had only been married six months. His wife wasn't too happy about it, but he never had second thoughts or doubts.

“I just thought it was fantastic. He was on one trolley and I was on another. We passed each other in the operating theatres.

“They cut him from his left shoulder blade right down to his right hip. That's how big the scar was, diagonally right across his back.”

Mr Hughes was out within five weeks but his brother remained in hospital for another month.

His brother died two years ago after contracting leukaemia.

“I look at his photograph now and I well up a bit. I've still got a part of him in me.”

Mr Hughes, of Witton Gilbert, near Durham City, is hoping to travel to London next year to meet doctors and nursers who took part in the operation.

He said: “I'm hoping to go down and remember my brother. It could be a special occasion.

“I'd like to cut a cake, maybe meet some of the nurses there at the time. They were fairly young, maybe they're still alive.

“I'd just say ‘look at me, 40 years later. I bet you never thought that would happen. It was thanks to every one of you'.”

“It was very dangerous and as it turned out my brother and myself proved them wrong.”

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