Stranger gave Telford man the gift of life

The 46-year-old is one of fewer than 400 people in the UK to benefit from a practice that only became legal in 2007.

And today the husband and father is returning to work for the first time after undergoing the transplant three months ago.

Mr Stevens had been on the transplant list since February 2013.

In November he was told that a live donor, an anonymous man in England, was willing to give up one of his kidneys.

Donations from live donors are relatively common, but normally come from a known relative or friend.

But eight years ago people were allowed to place themselves on an anonymous live donor register. Mr Stevens became just the 369th patient to receive an altruistic donation since it became legal in the UK.

He said: "It was someone who wanted to remain anonymous and wanted to donate one of their kidneys on the national donor register and I matched.

"I got a phone call on November 7 and we were given two weeks. Running up to the transplant I went through a lot of emotions. Stress, worry, happiness, guilt because someone was doing this wonderful thing for you because ultimately it is a major operation but I have come out of it better than I was before."

Mr Stevens, from Shawbirch, Telford, was returning to work today at the Land Registry.

He talked about the "emotional" time of getting the call, as he was sat in the pub with a work colleague who had been preparing to undergo tests to donate his kidney.

He said: "I cannot track the donor down as he has wished to stay anonymous. I have sent a letter of thanks to him. I gave him a brief of my life and told him how this has affected me and how my life is going to change.

"It means I can spend more time with my daughter and spend time with her and my wife on evenings and weekends. He has ultimately given me back my life."

Mr Stevens had suffered kidney failure and was forced to undergo regular dialysis. He said he had received incredible support from his wife Sue and daughter Abigail, 11, who he described as "my little nurse".

There are currently 5,700 people in the UK waiting for a kidney on the NHS transplant list and about 300 people die in the UK each year as a result of needing a kidney. More than 1,000 living kidney donor transplants take place each year in the UK, most of them between family and friends. But there are little more than 40 a year from altruistic live donors.

Keeping someone on dialysis costs around £290,000 over 10 years. By comparison, a kidney transplant over 10 years comes to £102,000.

While a healthy person can easily survive on one kidney, giving the organ does come with risk as the operation is significant and there is one in 3,000 risk of death.

Mr Stevens has helped set up the Telford and Shrewsbury Kidney Forum for Patients and Carers, which has just donated £200 to Shrewsbury Royal Hospital's renal unit, using money given to them by Asda Living.

He said he hoped the money would pay for vital equipment and also help raise awareness of kidney failure and organ donation.

Mr Stevens added: "We all want to do our bit to raise funds and we are all at different stages of our treatment. Some are about to go on dialysis, I have just had a transplant, one of the group has had a donation from their wife, another had had a kidney donation from a deceased donor so we cover the whole spectrum.

"It is extra information you as patients can provide each other, although we can only give personal experience, not medical advice.

"There is not enough awareness of kidney failure or organ donations, so our emphasis is to promote organ donation."

Tim Statham, chief executive of the National Kidney Federation, said: "Transplantation transforms the lives of kidney patients as dialysis is seen by many as only a lifeboat that can keep them alive until an organ is found.

"Now because it is possible to live a normal life with only one kidney, some wonderful selfless people are prepared to have one kidney removed and given to another to enable a friend, relative or total stranger to gain a good quality of life."