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Warwickshire mum’s fresh bid to find kidney donor




A MUM-of-three with life-threatening kidney disease has made a renewed appeal for potential donors to come forward.

Amber Simmonds, who lives in Meon Vale with husband Chris, seven-year-old twins Reuben and Jacob and five-year-old Pippa, is on life-saving dialysis.

Diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) as a teenager, she watched her mother battle the illness. Luckily, her mum received a kidney transplant 19 years ago, when she was 45, from her sister.

PKD causes cysts, or balloons of fluid, to develop in the kidneys.

Amber Simmonds pictured at the family home in Meon Vale with husband Chris, twin sons Jacob and Reuben, aged five, and daughter Pippa, three. Photo: Mark Williamson
Amber Simmonds pictured at the family home in Meon Vale with husband Chris, twin sons Jacob and Reuben, aged five, and daughter Pippa, three. Photo: Mark Williamson

Some can grow as big as a grapefruit and these damage tissue, enlarge the kidneys and prevent the organs filtering blood properly, which eventually results in kidney failure.

One of Amber’s kidneys is so enlarged it weighs 9lbs, which causes chronic pain and fatigue daily.

She was due to have it removed last month but the operation has been postponed in the hope she can find a replacement kidney.

Amber’s father Duncan and two of her friends volunteered to donate but unfortunately, this didn’t work out as in one case it was not a good match and in the other antibodies proved to be a barrier.

Now, the 29-year-old, whose appeal was featured by the Herald in March last year, is hoping others will be willing to come forward and be tested as a potential donor.

Her blood type is O-positive, which means she can receive from any O blood type. And even if a donor is not O blood type, they can enter what’s known as a paired exchange.

This means that if a donor isn’t a match for their chosen recipient, the two of them may be compatible with another pair elsewhere in the country.

Removal of the donor kidneys take place on the same day and time, so the kidneys can be exchanged.

Duncan and Ria have both opted to join a paired exchange but there is no guarantee this will work out medically, so Amber is still keen to hear from other potential donors.

She said: “Please help me find a kidney– I really need help.

“The more people willing to come forward, the better chance I have, as there’s only a 10 per cent chance of finding someone in every 10,000 people tested

“At the moment, the future seems uncertain, but I am going to fight to get a chance to see my babies grow and be here with them through their lives.

If you would like to know more about donating contact Laura Fraser at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire on 024 7696 7828.



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