Facebook user asks for a new kidney... and gets 100 offers
A SCOT who appealed on Facebook for a new kidney has received more than 100 offers f rom around the world.
Daniel Dowie lost the only kidney he was born with to cancer two years ago and has been waiting for a transplant ever since.
He has his blood cleaned by a dialysis machine three times a week and, desperate for help, the 45-year- old appealed for kidney donors on social media site Facebook.
I n only t hree weeks he received 103 offers from people as far away as Australia and New York.
Mr Dowie, from Edinburgh, said transplant experts at NHS Lothian had ‘never seen this kind of response’ to a kidney appeal before.
He added that health officials convened a special meeting to discuss how best to handle the remarkable global response to Mr Dowie’s plight. A questionnaire has been sent to all applicants and he is now waiting to hear if he has a match.
He has been told that, if necessary, a donor will be flown in from the other side of the world for the operation.
Since losing his kidney two years ago, Mr Dowie survives by having three gruelling dialysis sessions a week, leaving him exhausted and feeling unable to live life to the full.
Eighteen months after dreaming up the i dea, he decided to put out an appeal on Facebook.
Mr Dowie, who has worked as a hair stylist for 30 years, said he has been really encouraged by the ‘amazing’ number of people who offered up a vital organ to give him a better life.
He added: ‘I had never used social media before but my partner suggested I set up a Facebook page.
‘I worried if it was ethically the right thing to do and that people might get annoyed, but the NHS have been great and supported me all the way since I put it out on Facebook.
‘So far, I’ve had 103 responses – people from Scotland, New York, Germany, Cyprus and Australia.
‘The process has now started and all of those people, including about 70 from Scotland, have been sent a medical questionnaire which has to be returned by May 21.’
NHS experts will then sift through all offers and decide which volunteers they are going to take for testing.
Mr Dowie said: ‘I had a call from the transplant co-ordinator who told me they had never seen this kind of response before. They had to set up a meeting because they had so many applications.’
Mr Dowie is urging people in a similar situation to consider following his footsteps. He said: ‘I would without a doubt tell people to do the same thing – you never know how far these things can reach.
‘My life has been put on hold and I just want to live my life and get back to normal.
‘I have got so many things I still want to do.
‘I don’t want to spend my life in hospital on a machine.
‘I feel very optimistic now. As f ar as I’m concerned, I’m getting a new kidney and that’s all there is to it.’