A woman with a 100-year-old kidney has credited its longevity on coming from “good stock”. She would know – it came from her mother.
Sue Westhead was 25 when she was diagnosed with kidney disease in 1973.
When told a transplant was her only chance of survival, her mother Ann Metcalfe, then aged 57, donated her kidney to her daughter.
Now Sue, 68, and her kidney are “still going strong”, defying medical predictions over the organ’s lifespan.
She said: “I think it’s down to my mother’s good genes. She must have come from good stock.”
Sue, of Houghton Le Spring, Tyne and Wear, had only one tenth of normal renal function when she was diagnosed.
Recalling the time, she said: “I could hardly walk, I was a different colour – I was yellow and all of a sudden I had a rosy glow.
“It was a pretty scary time, even when I was still on the ward people were dying.
“My mum literally gave me life because I wouldn’t have lived much longer.”
Doctors usually estimate a transplant from a living donor will last 20 years at most.
But Sue said hers is “still going strong” 43 years on, adding she has looked after herself and taken 20 pills a day to make sure the kidney was not rejected.
She said: “I remember thinking if I get five years I’ll be happy.
“That was 43 years ago and my kidney is heading for 101 years-old in November.
“You just have to get on with life, not play the victim and wrap yourself in cotton wool.”
In 1973, only between 30 and 40% of transplanted kidneys lasted for five years.
The family’s story featured in local newspapers as living donor transplants were still relatively rare at the time.
Prof Derek Manas, President of the British Transplantation Society, said: “It’s an amazing story of encouragement and hope for people on dialysis and for encouraging people to donate as living donors or to join the Organ Donor Register.
“I think Sue must be one of the longest survivors.”