A SELFLESS dad has urged residents to sign up for the Organ Donor Register after giving one of his kidneys away to his 11-year-old daughter.

Kevin Burgess donated the organ to his daughter Grace, who needed a transplant having been diagnosed with cystinosis at the age of two.

From then onwards, 11-year-old Grace has had to wake up at 1am every night in order to take medication to manage the genetic condition.

But last month Kevin and Grace went into surgery at Manchester Royal Infirmary to undergo the transplant.

Kevin, 41, said: “Since the age of two Grace has never moaned.

“We have matching blood types and once I knew that I was a match we decided that I would do it.

“It was a worrying time because you think about whether you’re going to be alright, and then whether Grace is going to be alright.”

Kevin and Grace were unable to see each other for two days following the seven-hour surgery but after being reunited they are now recuperating at their home on Melrose Avenue in Burtonwood.

Pharmacy manager and volunteer ambulance responder Kevin added: “I didn’t get to know anything for the first 48 hours so I was panicking and hoping everything was ok, but touch wood it’s gone really well.

“It was fabulous to see her again afterwards – she has bounced back brilliantly so hopefully the kidney will last her for many years to come.

“I’m struggling a little bit because I’m aching all over, but Grace has benefited from it and that’s what it’s all about.

“The community is important to me and everybody’s been rooting for me – people have given us food parcels and all kinds of stuff.”

Now the Burtonwood and Westbrook Parish Council chairman has highlighted the importance of the NHS Organ Donor Register.

He said: “If I had a spare kidney and someone was poorly I’d do it again.

“A lot of countries are automatically enrolling people onto the organ donation list and hopefully at some stage the government will opt everybody in.

“When I was in hospital there was a chap across the row from me who was having a pancreas transplant.

“Apparently there was a major accident with three lads on board who died but every one of them had an organ donation card so they donated the pancreas to him.

“If people donate their organs they will save lives.”

Grace, who recently moved to Great Sankey High School from Burtonwood Community Primary School, has been fundraising for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where she has been cared for for nearly a decade.

She stacked £1 coins from the ceiling to the floor while on her ward and has so far raised more than £700, which will be used to buy a TV and a Playstation for kids who are in the hospital.

To donate click here.