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Father of three donates kidney to save best friend's life

When Nathan Black's body rejected the kidney his mother had donated, he feared his chance of a new beginning had gone.

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But the father-of-three has now found another match - one of his best friends.

Stuart Bentley visited 45-year-old Nathan in hospital when he heard about his ordeal. And he did not hesitate before offering to donate one of his own kidneys.

Incredibly, he appears to be an even better match than Nathan's mother Adrienne, and the family are now awaiting the results of final tests before the procedure can go ahead.

Nathan today hailed the 'amazing' gesture by his friend of 12 years - and has thanked him for saving his life.

He said: "He has got a heart of gold and what he is doing is unbelievable. It's almost like winning the lottery - you can't comprehend what this means."

Stuart, a father of three, has played down the praise, saying he 'owes him one'.

The 46-year-old, who runs his own removal firm, said: "He helped me out getting a job a few years ago, so I said if he ever needed anything, I'd be there. I didn't have this in mind at the time though!

"It doesn't matter to me - he is a mate and seeing the way he is when he's on dialysis, I knew I had to do something."

And rather than being nervous about the three-hour operation, he is eager to get it done as quickly as possible so Nathan can start his road to recovery.

In 2005 Nathan's kidneys began to fail after he picked up a disease that went undiagnosed.

He received the transplant from his 70-year-old mother in February last year.

But just two weeks before he was due to be given the all-clear, he started suffering complications as the toxins in his body had begun to rise and not enough blood was going to his new kidney.

He was forced to undergo three ultrasound scans, a biopsy, an MRI scan and an angiogram, which all confirmed his worst fear – the organ was being starved of blood and as a result was slowly dying.

After 10 days in Birmingham's QE Hospital, doctors made the decision to remove the kidney and on May 1 it was taken out.

He was then put back on the donors waiting list with around 6,000 other patients.

But when Stuart, of Cannock, heard his friend was in hospital, he rushed to be at his side - and out of blue offered to be his donor.

Nathan said: "I told him that it's not as simple as that but he spoke to the doctors and was still up for it.

"My mum was a blood match but not a tissue match - but Stuart is both. He has had all the scans and now just has to have a psychological assessment before we can go ahead with it."

Nathan, of Brownhills, never expected it would lead to him eagerly awaiting another transplant - and he says he feels like one of the luckiest men alive.

The pair met at a gym in Cannock and quickly became firm friends, meeting regularly and helping each other train.

Nathan said the story highlights the importance of registering as an organ donor.

He added: "Donating a kidney when you are still alive is amazing but anyone can do it after they have died. The problem is that not enough people are signing up.

"Statistically everyone has a donor match, and we don't need our organs after we have died, so I'd urge everyone to sign up because the impact it would have on someone's life can't be explained. It would be huge."

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