Nick's five-year wait for a life changing donor (From Warrington Guardian)

Nick's five-year wait for a life changing donor

FOR five long years, 29-year-old Nick Palmer has been waiting for a new kidney.

But as the number of people needing an organ donation increases every year, the supply of kidneys continues to shrink in comparison, and Nick could face an even longer wait.

At just 20 years old, Nick, who works at BE Group on Birchwood Science Park, was diagnosed with nephritic syndrome, a form of kidney disease resulting from damage to the kidneys' blood vessels that filter waste and excess water.

He started drug therapy, which continued until the summer of 2000, when his kidneys failed completely and he went on to dialysis.

For three times a week, five hours at a time, Nick had to be hooked up to a dialysis machine at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.

Nick's mum underwent tests to see if she could give him her kidney but unfortunately she was not a match.

Nick, from Manchester, said: "I have a very rare blood type and there were complications in getting a match. As an only child, I couldn't rely on getting a kidney from siblings either so I was put on the transplant waiting list and continued with dialysis."

He added: "The effects of kidney disease made me tired and at times irritable but when I started on dialysis, things did become more difficult. But I decided that I wouldn't let dialysis control me so I started to set myself targets."

In May this year he completed the 10km Great Manchester Run in under an hour, raising more than £300 for the Manchester Institute of Nephrology and Transplantation.

He is now urging people to sign up to the organ donor register in a bid to help others in a similar position to him.

He adds: "If anything gets me down it's the waiting and the hoping for a transplant."