Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
SAVED ED MY LIFE
EXCLUSIVE Shared love of boy wizard led woman to vital donor
A DUNDEE-born mum was shocked to receive a new kidney from a complete stranger – who made her final decision to donate because they had a mutual love of Harry Potter.
Angela Shannon, 44, suffered from kidney disease from the age of two, and had previously received a transplant from her mum Irene McKay in 2002.
However, in 2015, after years of living without any problems, Angie’s body started to reject the kidney and she was forced back on to arduous rounds of dialysis.
The mum-of-three, who now lives in Blairgowrie, decided to create a Facebook page highlighting her struggle, having been told another “live donor” would be her best chance of a recovery from reflux nephropathy, in which the kidneys are damaged by the backward flow of urine into the kidney.
And, to the astonishment of Angie and husband Paul, 45, a complete stranger reached out and decided to give her the vital organ.
Michelle Sweeting, from Newcastle, donated after seeing she and Angie shared a love of the Harry Potter books and films. And Angie has even named her new kidney “Lily” after one of the characters from the fantasy series.
Angie, who works for Scottish Water, said: “I always knew I would need a transplant and it always just seemed agreed my mum would give me a kidney at some point.
“I had some major operations as a kid after constant problems with my bladder. I was in hospital so much my consultant even ended up at my wedding, I knew him so well.
“I had my first transplant back in 2002. At the time we had three children all under six years old, so it was a muchneeded boost.
“I l ooked and felt better immediately, the colour just returned to my face and I wasn’t thirsty all the time.”
Then, in 2013, Angie found out she was rejecting the kidney and despite the doctors’ best efforts she ended up back on dialysis in the summer of 2015, just before her 40th birthday.
“I had put up on Facebook in 2014 that I was going back on dialysis and posted that I would need a transplant,” said Angie.
“To my shock, six people said they would give me a kidney if I needed one. One was a person I worked with, another four were from the Tayside area and one was Michelle, who lives i n Newcastle.
“I don’t have words to describe how that felt. People give blood, but to ask someone to go into hospital to have their body cut open and have part of their body removed – it really astounds me that anyone would agree to that.
“When I first got the message from Michelle she messaged saying she just wanted to let me know she had the same blood type and had a compatibility test and if I wanted it, ‘the kidney is yours’.
“I didn’t quite believe the message, we thought it was a wind-up then the consultant said, ‘this is real’.
“Michelle had found my page on Facebook, looked through it and saw I was a big Harry Potter fan, and that was what finally sealed her decision to give a kidney to me.
“To say she saved my life is an understatement.
“After the transplant in 2017, I feel now I have a responsibility because I know what she went through. I don’t want to let her down. I feel like I have that obligation to live life to the fullest.”
The pair have remained in contact and Michelle met the rest of the family including Angie’s kids Taylor, Robert and Andrew, when she and Paul, who works as a transport manager for Dundee Plant, decided to renew their vows.