This angel kept me alive (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

This angel kept me alive

Jack PorterFOUR years ago Jack Porter had a kidney transplant which saved his life. Now, the healthy nine-year-old from Covingham has discovered who the "angel" was who kept him alive.

Today Jack is a football loving nine-year-old. But back then his family did not know how long he could go on.

The operation saved him but there was also a tragic side to the story.

The donor was 16-year-old Nicola Raphael, who committed suicide after being bullied by classmates.

Donor recipients never normally know who or where their donated organ came from.

And the family who allowed the organs to be donated are not told where they went or who they helped.

But earlier this month as part of a BBC documentary, Jack and his family finally met with Nicola's mum, Rona, from Scotland, in an emotional get together.

Kim, 39, of Covingham, said: "When we met there was lots of emotions and you relive everything again but it was lovely.

"It was nice to know something about the girl who saved my son's life."

Kim had always wondered about the circumstances behind Jack's operation.

Soon after the kidney transplant they wrote a 'Dear Donor Family' letter, saying thank you for giving Jack life and expressing sorrow at their loss.

Jack was born with prune bellow syndrome, also known as Eagle-Barrett syndrome, which led to kidney failure.

As reported in the Adver at the time he had countless operations which failed to cure it before the news came that a donor had been found for him to have a transplant.

Kim said: "I wrote to her via the transplant co-ordinators at the time and several times I had sat down to write again and every time it was such a hard thing to do.

"It's a happy story for us but tragic for Rona."

Kim says that the most important thing about meeting Rona was finding out about Nicola.

And she has been inspired by Rona, who after losing her daughter, has gone on to campaign against bullying and to encourage people to carry donor cards.

Kim said: "She is a lovely, lovely lady. She is amazing. To lose a child is tragic.

"I couldn't even begin to understand how she must have felt.

"But to campaign for transplantation is just so courageous.

"Jack had the gift of life. She was the person that gave it."

For the meeting Jack made Rona a card which read: "Sorry Nicola died, thank you for my kidney, love Jack."

Kim said: "He made her a lovely card.

"She just cried when he gave it to her."

After the transplant the Swin-don family dedicated a bench in their garden to the then unknown girl. They named it simply Angel.

Now they finally know who the angel is.

BBC features organ donations

The BBC is running a series of programmes to raise awareness of the issues around organ donation and transplant.

A weeklong series of programmes, Life on the List, starting today, tells the stories of people needing organ transplants.

Jack Porter's story will be aired on BBC1 at 7pm on Friday.

More than 45,000 UK people have had their lives saved or transformed by a kidney transplant since the pioneering surgery in the US in 1954.

It also paved the way for successful transplantation of other organs, including the heart, lung and liver.

The surgeon who performed the original operation on identical twin brothers from Boston, Joseph Murray, would later go on to win a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work.

But even today donors are in short supply.

Last year only 7,725 heart, lung, kidney, pancreas or liver transplants were carried out and 400 people died while waiting for an organ transplant.

There are currently 7,708 people waiting for an organ transplant.

Gareth Bethell