MOTHER’S ‘My life stranger DONOR’S GIVEN ME ANOTHER CHANCE...
A MUM’S life was saved by a stranger who donated a kidney after seeing her desperate plea for help on Facebook.
Angela Shannon’s kidneys started to fail shortly after birth and the 43-yearold had her first transplant aged 26. When years later she started to be plagued with infections, she knew the donated organ was deteriorating.
But with a six-year waiting list for a new kidney, Angela knew she was living on borrowed time.
She set up a Facebook page called Journey To A New Kidney and urged people to help her.
Angela said: “It was an act of sheer desperation.
“I typed, ‘I’m looking for a donor kidney, blood type O. If interested, here’s who to call.’
“I didn’t look at my Facebook for days, I was too nervous, but when I did click the computer back on I found a message from a woman called Michelle Sweeting.
“I was sceptical. Why would a complete stranger want to give me their kidney?”
But Michelle was serious, and her message marked the beginning of a new life for the mum of three.
Angela was born with a reflux, which damaged her kidneys.
Her first transplant, in
2002, came from her mum, but the average lifespan of a donated kidney is only
12 to 15 years.
Angela said: “Tests in 2012 confirmed that my body was rejecting my mum’s kidney. I was living on borrowed time.
“My mum’s kidney had given me the chance to raise my children but now I needed a new one to stay alive for them.”
By 2015, Angela was forced to start using a wheelchair after months of exhausting dialysis.
She realised she was unlikely to survive the six-year wait for a transplant.
Angela, who is mum to Taylor, 23, Robbie, 20, and Andrew, 17, said: “My heart sank. I knew I wouldn’t last that long.
“My husband Paul tried but he wasn’t a match. I began to lose all hope.
“Then, one day, I created my own Facebook page to share and document my experience. I was dubious when my transplant co-ordinator suggested I put up a post asking for help, but at this point I had nothing to lose and perhaps everything to gain.”
Angela, from Blairgowrie, Perth, received messages demanding £70,000 in exchange for an organ.
But kind Michelle wasn’t asking for a penny – and had all the tests that proved she could help.
Michelle said: “I’d watched a documentary about organ donation and decided there and then I was going to give someone my kidney. “Initially, I was going to help a twoyear-old boy, but in the final tests I wasn’t a match. “It was heartbreaking, but I decided to find someone else. “When I saw that Angela needed a kidney, I checked out her Facebook page and saw that she loved Harry Potter, as I do. It felt like a sign. “People ask why I would take a risk, but I just think I could get run over by a bus tomorrow, so why wait?” Two days later Angela’s transplant coordinator confirmed Michelle’s kidney was a match.
Angela added: “I couldn’t believe it. My Facebook post had actually worked.” An official assessment was made to ensure everything was legal. Then, in January 2017, both women were admitted to hospital and the procedure began.
Surgeons took one of Michelle’s kidneys and placed it inside Angela. Angela said: “After just 10 weeks, I was already feeling the positive effects. “Eventually, Michelle and I would like to go to Harry Potter World and experience it together. After all, she is now a part of me. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger on Facebook, I have been given a new chance at life.”