My birthday gift to Mum was a kidney
BATS and owls have put the brakes on Jeremy Clarkson’s plans for a barn conversion on his £4million Cotswolds estate. Planners told the ex-Top Gear host, 59, to install roosting boxes for the protected species.
A LOVING daughter made sure her mother had the best birthday ever when she gave her the ultimate gift – one of her kidneys.
Prevanda Varshani had been battling chronic kidney disease for years and urgently needed a transplant.
Dishna Hirani, 41, volunteered to be her live donor and tests revealed she was a match.
A year on from the operation, Prevanda celebrated her 63rd birthday at home with her family.
Mum-of-two Dishna said: “The numbers of donors in ethnic minorities are slim so the chance of Mum getting a donated kidney that would be a match for her was even smaller. Straightaway I knew I wanted to see if I was a match. I’m so pleased I could give Mum a kidney because I’ve seen how much it really Prevanda Varshani and
Dishna Hirani has changed her life. She seems to have so much more energy now. She doesn’t get tired easily and is always on the move.
“I was never worried about the transplant – I went in with a positive attitude, I wasn’t afraid, and I told Mum to do the same.
“I would do it all over again in a heart beat. My mum is happy and healthy and I can’t ask for more.” The pair underwent surgery at Hammersmith Hospital last October 31, Prevanda’s 62nd birthday, and were on the same ward as they recovered from their operations. Prevanda, of Wembley, north-west London, said: “Never in a million years would I have imagined I’d be accepting my daughter’s kidney. The transplant has changed my life for the better and I’m forever grateful.”
A LIZARD’S head suspended in amber had star billing with a £4million price tag at a “Jurassic Park” sale yesterday.
But it failed to live up to expectations and despite being the the talk of palaeontologists around the world was withdrawn from sale.
Auctioneer Silke Lohmann said:
“The top-end amber lots failed to sell.”
An extremely rare plesiosaur fossil from the time of the dinosaurs also generated interest and successfully went under the hammer for £42,500 after a telephone bidding war at the sale in Billingshurst, West Sussex.