Donor man dies in accident

Britain’s oldest female kidney donor has spoken of her grief after her son whose life she saved died in a freak accident.

Christine Wright, aged 81, of Bromfield Court in Stone, donated her kidney to 51-year old son David two months ago to keep him alive.

But he died after falling and fracturing his hip while falling over as he tried to return a supermarket trolley at a Tesco supermarket in Stoke-on-Trent.

He fell on Tuesday and underwent surgery the following morning, but suffered a heart attack from a blood clot and died.

Mrs Wright said the accident was not connected in any way to the transplant, which took place on April 4.

She said it was “heartbreaking” to see her son go downhill and that any mother would have done the same thing.

“It’s something that any mother would do if they could. I am sure they would,” she said.

“It was heartbreaking seeing his health go downhill these last couple of years. I’d have done anything to help him.

“I was given all the warnings, but I was determined to try and give him his life back.”

And David’s father Tom Wright, aged 80, said: “We were very pleased about the operation and have no complaints about that, it was perfect for David. It’s just a terrible pity that this has happened, it’s a tragedy.”

After Mr Wright was diagnosed as a diabetic he had to spend nine hours a day on a dialysis machine.

After discovering her kidney was a match for her son two years ago Mrs Wright urged doctors to let her have the operation, despite the increased risks of surgery for older patients.

Mr Wright had already lost both of his legs in 1994 after contracting MRSA in hospital and had artificial limbs.

After the transplant Mr Wright, a computer expert from Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, had said: “I love my mum - always have done and always will do. She knew the risks were there, but she’s done this for me and I can’t thank her enough.”

Mr Wright had diabetes since the age of 12, but was keen to encourage others to undergo transplants and raised money for local hospitals.

It was not until 2004, when he was being treated for pneumonia, that David was told he had end user kidney failure and was in desperate need of help.

Just over two years ago he was accepted on to the transplant list and it was at that point that his mother came to become the donor despite risking her own life.

The operation went down in history and was dubbed a total success.

David said that he had felt “marvellous” since the four-and-a-half hour operation at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham.

photo by Ray Bradbury, Spot Pictures