Mum's Facebook kidney plea prompts 'mind-blowing' gift from total stranger

A woman who shared a desperate plea for a kidney on Facebook has undergone a lifesaving transplant after a stranger offered to be her donor.

Karen Davey, 41, had exhausted every avenue before turning to social media, where she said she did not "want to leave her family without a mother".

Gary Summerfield saw the mum-of-four's post and, after learning he was a match, donated one of his kidneys via an operation in July.

"I thought this lady needs one of my kidneys more than I need two of them," said Gary.

Karen's family said they would never be able to repay Gary for his generosity, adding that it had given her "another chance to be a mum".

The average wait for a deceased donor kidney transplant in the UK is two to three years, according to NHS Blood and Transplant, but if you have a living donor it can be about three to six months.

This was Karen's second lifesaving transplant. She underwent a heart transplant 10 years ago, after having a heart attack aged 31 while watching her son play football.

A transplant increases the risk of infection because of the medication patients need to take following the procedure, and complications led to Karen developing kidney failure.

"I knew the tablets I was taking following the heart transplant would damage the kidneys so they try and keep the dose as low as possible, but we always knew when I had the heart transplant that I would probably need a kidney transplant at some point, and that is hard to deal with mentally."

Karen, from Brynna, Rhondda Cynon Taf, was in stage three kidney failure when she discovered her friends and family were not matches and decided to put a plea on Facebook.

She explained in her post that she has a relatively rare blood type and described the kidney failure as putting her life on hold.

"My main thing is the kids, I want to be around for them."

Karen's eldest is now 22, and she is also grandmother to a one-year-old.

"The kids were 10 years younger when I had the heart transplant, and they've been through a lot since then and the kidney was just the next hurdle," she added.

Gary, a security guard from Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, stumbled upon Karen's post by chance and felt he had to help.

"I saw Karen's appeal and she mentioned the children, and I thought 'Karen's a similar age to my daughter and her youngest child is the same age as my grandson', and I just thought it's terrible for the children.

"If It was my daughter, I would be searching everywhere if we had exhausted all avenues through the family and friends, I would want a stranger to come forward. And I thought it would be selfish not to."

He added: "I thought this lady needs one of my kidneys more than I need two of them."

Although, Gary, 60, had never met Karen, he immediately volunteered to be tested.

He underwent extensive assessments, including compatibility testing, psychological evaluations, blood tests, cholesterol checks and other medical examinations.

The pair then underwent the six-hour procedure on 15 July at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Gary said he never had any second thoughts.

"It's amazing seeing Karen today, the first time since the transplant and looking so well.

"For me, donating a kidney is simply up there with getting married and having my children, it's one of the top three things in my life.

"And she's a very deserving lady and a deserving family."

Karen said she felt "100 times better" and her husband Matthew said they would always be grateful to Gary.

"Everyone knows what's going on in the world at the moment, it's a horrible place at times, but it really does give you hope that there is kindness in the world.

"We'll never, ever be able to repay Gary and the family for what they've done, and to give Karen another chance, another chance of being able to be the mother to our children and just live a life that she deserves.

"He has given that gift of life."

Karen added: "The fact that somebody came forward and has gone through all the testing, because it's a lot of testing. For somebody to put their body through that and having a kidney taken out for somebody that they don't know, it's mind-blowing, I'm just so grateful."

The couple's son Brandon, 17, said it was "amazing" to see his mum on the road to recovery after the transplant.

"She's looked better now than she has in a long while.

"It can be scary, obviously, when she's going into surgeries, but you just have to have hope. It's just amazing there's still good people out there."