MY KIDNEY HELPED THREE PEOPLE IN A CHAIN

tessa davis, 42, a paediatric emergency medicine consultant at the Royal London hospital, lives in London, with husband Fergal, 46, a civil servant, and their three children aged 15, 13 and 11. she donated her kidney in February last year. she says:

I uSe sedation for my patients every week in my job, but I had never been under a general anaesthetic in my life — and the night before the operation I was terrified.

But it was fine, and after my operation, the transplant team told me that the donation went well, which was a relief to hear.

I decided to become a donor after listening to a podcast about altruistic donation six years ago.

Something just clicked — at work I often see patients who need a transplant to survive. I have also spoken to many families who are under stress because of their need for dialysis. They can’t get on and live their lives.

When I mentioned the idea to my husband, Fergal, he was happy to support me. We were living in Australia at the time, and then we were looking to move back to the uK, so I didn’t start the process until 2021.

I was matched into a chain, which meant my kidney went to one person and then their partner’s kidney was given to a child.

Afterwards, I took a few months off because my job is very physically demanding — but my work was very supportive.

The first few weeks were pretty rough, but after that I started to