Kidney op team off to Africa

The team that has given a new lease of life to Shropshire people suffering from kidney failure is now heading to Africa to save lives.

The kidney transplant team at Birmingham's University Hospital has performed successful transplants on Lee Mountford, of Shifnal, from his brother Mark, and husband and wife Oriel and Ian Anderson of Coalport, Telford. Mrs Anderson donated her kidney to her husband last month.

She said it was the best decision she had ever made and was overwhelmed that tests had showed her husband's new kidney was working.

Doctors told the couple there was a one in a million chance of Mrs Anderson being a perfect match for the transplant as they were not blood related.

This week, Lee Mountford, who had made hundreds of trips for dialysis, also began his recovery from his kidney operation.

On April 21, the 10 team-members of the transplant team will travel to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre in Trinidad, to perform operations on children.

Andrew Ready, consultant surgeon on the team, set up the charity Transplant Links with a colleague a year ago.

The charity raises funds to travel to developing countries to save lives, in an area where without help, patients would die from renal failure.

Mr Ready said: "People in developing countries would die from this illness, whereas in Britain we have operations available to us.

"I and members of the team have been on trips to these countries to scope what we can do but this will be the first trip totally funded by the charity.

"We will be there for a week to provide pre and after care to the patients and help the operations team over there. The operations will give the patients back their childhoods."

Adrian Shaw, of Madeley, is a team member who will be attending the trip.

Mr Shaw, 47, said he was pleased to be going to Africa.

"I have been on the team for two years and saving lives is the reason I got into this in the first place," he said.

All transplant team members raise funds for the charity in their own time.

Mr Ready added: "We hope to make to develop a family of units that we can bring on board and help us to save hundreds of lives."

Anyone who wants to find out more about the charity or donate money can visit www.transplantlinks.org

By Catherine Roche