Kidney op gift of life

For years Lee Mountford has made hundreds of trips to hospital for gruelling dialysis treatment but now he has been given the gift of life - by his older brother.

Mark Mountford has offered to donate one of his kidneys for a transplant operation after tests proved he was the perfect match.

Lee, 28, of Shifnal, had been forced to quit his job and put organising his wedding on hold because of the continuous treatment.

But the operation scheduled for the end of March at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, will give him a new lease of life.

Lee's three brothers, his sister and father all tested to see whether they were a match and he was delighted when they were. But it was decided that his eldest brother would be the one to donate a kidney.

Lee said he had been plagued by health problems since just after he was born.

"When I was three months old I had trouble urinating. It put pressure on my kidneys and that damaged them. But it wasn't until I was 21 that I needed dialysis.

"My brother actually took the test two years ago but I had to have other operations so it couldn't go-ahead."

Father-of-one Mark, a window cleaner, also of Shifnal, said he was thrilled he could help out his brother.

He said: "Seeing anyone suffering is bad enough, but the fact he is my brother, it didn't take a lot of time thinking about. Obviously I'm a little nervous about the operation, but it's got to be done."

Lee said a new kidney would give him a new lease of life, adding: "At the moment I can't work, I'm too tired a lot of the time."

But after recovering from the transplant, he aims to push ahead with plans for his wedding to 27-year-old fiancee Michelle Pagett, as well as looking for a job.

Lee said: "The kidney does not last forever, it will probably be for 10 or 11 years so there's a good chance I will need some more kidneys later on down the line. I'm very thankful to Mark. The doctors have gone through the risks and they are minimal."