Birmingham businessman Peter Ford is urging people to join the organ donor register – 40 years after a kidney transplant transformed his life.

Peter was just 19-years-old and one of the first kidney transplant patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) when he underwent his operation in May 1976 - and four decades later his donor organ is still going strong.

And as living proof that transplant patients can go on to live long and very full lives Peter is eager to make sure that others get the same chance – by backing a global awareness campaign on March 10, World Kidney Day.  

“After my transplant I remember asking how long the kidney would last,” he said. “They told me to ask again in three months. Then they said they thought it might last three years and after three years they admitted they didn’t really know and just told me to get on with living my life – and here we are 40 years later.”

Peter’s kidneys had first failed when he was six and he spent six months in hospital followed by many years of ill health as a child until his kidneys failed again in his early teens.

“I was really ill at the time and eventually had to go on haemodialysis,” he explained.

That meant trips from his home in Wolverhampton to what was then the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in Stoke for 10-hour dialysis sessions three times a week while at the same time his diet was also severely restricted – with little protein allowed and only one pint of fluid per day.

“Ten hours of dialysis three times a week takes over your whole life,” he recalled. “On the other days you recover. It was no life for a teenager.”

After one false alarm, however, Peter got the call from the QE to say that a compatible donor organ had become available and he headed to Birmingham for his transplant. But there was an anxious wait after the operation.

“The kidney didn’t start working for two weeks,” he said. “At the time doctors told me that if it took longer to start working it might last a long time.. So the fact that mine took those two weeks to start working probably says something – given that it is still working now.”

Peter knows nothing about his donor and regrets never having had the chance to pass on his gratitude for a gift which gave him his life back.

Having given up on dreams of going to university and taken a job as a bank clerk he enrolled on a degree course in computer science as soon as he was fit enough before going on to work for Cadbury Schweppes in Birmingham and he now runs his own business with three partners.

“Without my transplant I would never have been able to do that and I’ve done countless other things I never dreamed I would be able to do. I’ve got two sons, who are now in their twenties. I’ve done lots of travelling; been to the United States, Canada and Japan and I’m getting remarried in December this year and live a fantastic life”

Just a couple of years after his transplant, Peter also began a longstanding link with Transplant Sport and the British Transplant Games, first as a competitor and then chairman and administrator.

“I started competing in 1979 and played badminton, did the 100 metres, high jump, played volleyball and all sorts of other things for about 25 years or so.

“The whole point of the Transplant Games is to raise awareness and get people to sign on to the organ donor register.

“The more people that sign up and, importantly, that tell their relatives that they’ve signed up, the more available donor organs we will have.

“The ultimate aim is to ensure that more people who need transplants get one. You’ve got 10,000 people waiting for a transplant of one sort or another at the moment and three people a day die because they haven’t had a transplant.

“I am proof that transplants can last for a lifetime,” he said. “I was ill from the age of 6 to 19 but after the transplant life just opened up for me and I could never have done all the things I have done if I hadn’t had the transplant.”

QEHB consultant nephrologist Dr Adnan Sharif said: “What Peter has achieved with his donor kidney is an inspiration to all transplant patients.

“His case perfectly highlights just how a life can be changed by receiving a donor organ. The message is simple; more patients will have the opportunity to receive a life-changing transplant if more people join the organ donation register.”

But over 70% of kidney patients are not always suitable for a donor, and this can mean years, decades and indeed whole lives spent on dialysis with input from a large variety of clinical teams, for some transplantation can never be the magic bullet.

On Thursday 10 March, specialist teams from across QEHB, the Kidney Patients Association and current patients will come together to showcase and talk about the extraordinary work they do for renal patients in Birmingham and the wider region.

If you would like to find out more about World Kidney Day, come along to the Atrium, Main Entrance, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TH on Thursday 10 March between 10:00 and 15:00.

To join the NHS organ Donor Register visit the website (see below) or call this number:

Tel: 0300 123 23 23

To find out more about the Kidney Patients’ Association, please visit the page on the Trust website (see below):