'I donated my kidney to a stranger – and it's one the best things I've ever done'

Anne Keeling described donating a kidney to a stranger as one of her life’s greatest achievements. The 59-year-old, who has recently retired, puts the procedure alongside raising a family and her successful career in communications.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done – and I’ve raised four kids which I’m immensely proud of,” she beamed. “When I explain to people what I’ve done, they often don’t know it’s a possibility, so I think getting that message out there that you can live a very normal, healthy life with one kidney is hugely important.”

The Penarth resident said she had two deeply personal reasons for wanting to donate in the first place. As she was growing up, she was aware of her uncle dying at the tender age of 16, but didn’t understand why until she became an adult.

“I found out that he had kidney failure, purely from getting flu,” she explained. “This was back in the 1950s when there wasn’t dialysis or much that could support kidney failure. It was a big thing for my mum and my grandparents to lose him so young. As I got older and had children myself, I realised what a massive impact it would be to lose a child.

“Then in university I met a good friend who had a genetic kidney disease. She became a senior leader at a school near Leeds and was undergoing dialysis three times a week at the same time, which I thought was incredible. She then had to have a kidney replacement and was on the waiting list for a long time. She finally got a donation and had quite a fight with rejection, but it did settle down.

“She had never been particularly sporty, but her surgeon recommended swimming and she began competing in very minor races. She then swam for England in the Transplant Games and won loads of medals. I saw this transformation in her – she’s an amazing human being and she became an inspiration for me to donate my own kidney to someone.”

Once her youngest son had finished university in 2018, Anne made the decision to register to become an altruistic donor. She was then put in touch with the live donation team at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff to have initial conversations around a potential transplant.

“They were very patient with my questions, they were clear about every step of the process and gave me all the information that I wanted,” she added. “I went through psychological tests so they could get a better understanding of why I wanted to put myself through it. I’d had discussions with my boys about it and they really bought into it.”

Anne, who loves yoga, said her kidney and overall health were thoroughly assessed, before she was given a call in January 2021 to confirm that a match had been found. “It was quite strange as Covid restrictions were still in place - but I was treated like a VIP. I was so well-supported and looked-after,” she added.

“I went in mid-morning [for the operation] and I was awake and alert mid-afternoon and gently moving around that evening. The one thing nobody really talked about was the amount of air that gets pumped into your stomach for the operation which creates discomfort for around a week afterwards. I found some post-abdominal surgery yoga online which really helped. But the day after surgery I was walking out of the hospital and could travel back home.”

Two-and-a-half years after the surgery, Anne said she has been able to live a completely normal life without any complications. She is now given a health check once a year for the rest of her life.

“I have no sense that I only have one kidney. It’s never been a problem - and my body doesn’t look any different,” she said. “My fitness didn’t go down, I was back running and doing lots of sport within a matter of weeks.”

During her pre-op counselling, Anne was told that she may never discover the recipient of her kidney as they may not want to communicate with their donor. “I have written a letter that went into the file of my recipient, but I don’t know if they want it which I’m completely comfortable with. All I know is that their operation went really well and that my kidney was healthy enough to go into someone young.”

Monday, September 18 to Sunday, September 24 marks Organ Donation Week, a seven-day campaign which aims to raise awareness about the ongoing need for organ donors. Around a third of all kidney transplants carried out in the UK are from living donors, and around 1,100 such operations are performed each year.

Last year at the University Hospital of Wales, there were 48 living kidney donor transplants – a record high for the team. However, just four of them were altruistic.

Anne concluded: “The team dedicated to organ donation [at the University Hospital of Wales] are absolutely vital, because if I hadn’t had that support leading up to the procedure - which was a couple of years - I wouldn’t have felt so secure going into it. I still feel cared for by them.”

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of becoming a live kidney donor, you can get more information via NHS Blood and Transplant here or you can contact the live donor team in Cardiff via email live.donor.cav@wales.nhs.uk

For more information on transplant in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board please go here.