The mum who put her own life on the line to save her brother

ASELFLESS Cardiff woman has relived the moment she gave her brother one of her kidneys to save his life.

Hannah Tanhai, from Llanishen, received the devastating news that her brother Tim Jenkins was having kidney failure in 2012.

After the diagnosis, the family discovered that without a viable donor Tim would face a lifetime on dialysis.

Having lost both of their parents quite suddenly just a year earlier, 55-year-old Hannah was determined to do all she could to give hope to her brother following their family heartbreak.

Speaking about her experience to coincide with Living Donation Week (March 9-15), she said: “Our family was still grieving my mother and father when we got the news about Tim’s illness, and so being a living donor felt like an opportunity to bring some light back into all of our lives.

“At each stage, I kept worrying that I would fail one of the tests and wouldn’t be able to donate.

“There was a serious concern about my weight, so I lost five stone to get to a healthy weight to make sure I could be considered a donor.

“It took me five months to go from a size 18 to a size 6, but I stayed focussed on my goal and managed to lose the weight through a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. It wasn’t easy, but throughout the whole process I stayed fixated on giving my brother a second chance at life.

“Tim and I had grown up together in Llanfairpwll in north Wales, and he was always the life and soul of the party. Most of all, my children absolutely adored him.”

In 2014, Hannah had to explain to her five children – who were then 32, 17, 15, nine and seven – that she would be making the selfless choice to donate a kidney to their uncle.

“My children all knew their uncle Tim as a joker who would always laugh with them. It was difficult to explain what was happening to them regardless of their ages, and I knew that it would impact the whole family in different ways.

“My eldest daughter had to look after the little ones while I was in hospital, but I hope that taking on that responsibility has shown them how important it is to put family first and to be there for one another through hard times.”

Hannah’s operation was a success, and after facing some complications with her recovery which led her body to retain excessive air, she was discharged from hospital in full health in June 2014.

“The nurses who took care of me throughout the donation process were exceptional, and it gave me a new appreciation for the work they do every day,” she added.

“If anything, I think the fact that it wasn’t ‘plain sailing’ for me showed my children how far families may need to go for one another, and even though it was hard, I don’t regret my choice to donate for a second.

“I hope that stories like mine will encourage others to consider becoming living donors, as it’s honestly one of the best things I have ever done.”

Tim admitted seeing his sister go through the process of preparing for the transplant operation was “incredible”.

He said: “I’ll never forget what it was like to see her walk through the door when we met to catch up just before the operation – I didn’t even recognise her because she’d lost so much weight since I’d last visited.

“I can hardly put into words what it felt like to see her work so hard to lose the weight. I just couldn’t believe that someone would go through all that for me.

“Throughout the day before the transplant, as I was waiting in the hospital I could hear helicopters arriving with organs ready for transplants and could see people rushing into hospital, only to then be told that the organ wasn’t suitable.

“It must have been absolutely devastating, and so to have known for two years that I would be given a new lease of life took out all the stress and anxiety of having to wait and wonder what my fate would be.

“Hannah and I are now closer than ever, and every time I think back to the night of the operation I count my lucky stars that she was willing to put herself on the line to save my life.”

Every year more than 250 patients die waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK due to a shortage of organs.

People’s lives can be changed by a living donation, resulting in shorter waiting times, avoiding dialysis and an improvement to the quality and length of someone’s life.

To make sure as many organ transplants as possible take place the Welsh Government is urging people to talk to their loved ones to tell them their organ donation decision and register that decision on the Organ Donor Register so there’s no uncertainty.

■ To find out more about living donation and how you could save a https://gov.wales/living-donation