Transplant experts from two Birmingham hospitals have used their skills to give three children in Trinidad the chance for new lives.

British Charity Transplant Links (TLC) arranged the life-saving mission, in which surgeons and kidney specialists operated and taught local doctors in Trinidad to carry out essential kidney transplants.

The TLC team of seven included doctors and operating theatre technicians from the Kidney Transplant Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and a paediatric specialist from Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

They travelled to Trinidad to help perform kidney transplants on three children, Aaron, Nyron and Akila. Each child was suffering from kidney failure and, with little available in the way of kidney dialysis on the island, a transplant was their only hope of a new life.

Their parents were given the opportunity by TLC to give their children this chance, by donating one of their own kidneys. This successful procedure of live donor transplantation is now commonplace in the UK, but in Trinidad has only been made possible with the support of the charity.

The operations took place at the Eric Williams Medical Centre at Mount Hope Hospital, in collaboration with the National Organ Transplant Unit, under the direction of Dr Lesley Roberts.

Andrew Ready, Clinical Service Lead for Renal Surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, led the team: “A vital aspect of our visit is the transferring of skills, and we worked closely with local doctors to ensure this happens. This is essential so that many more children will benefit in the future”

The mission was organized by TLC’s founder and CEO, Dr Jennie Jewitt-Harris, who said: “The team members from Birmingham are giving their free time for an excellent cause, and thanks to them these three families have a very special Christmas to look forward to, with the prospect of normal lives rather than trying to survive on kidney dialysis.

“The families are so grateful to them for this opportunity. To give a parent the chance to save the life of their own child is what TLC is all about.”

Adrian Shaw, an operating theatre technician on the team, said: “It’s a great way to share our skills, as well as to develop them. We all learn a lot from these visits, so it works well for everyone involved”

Transplant Links has worked across the world to help patients dying from kidney failure, which in many countries has a worse outlook than having HIV/AIDS because of the poor availability of facilities.

TLC works with teams in Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal and Trinidad and soon hopes to add Bangladesh to the list. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit their website.