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Unique Organ Transplant Now Offered at QA Hospital

L-R , Daniel, Robert's mother, Rosanna and Robert

A revolutionary kidney transplant which allows a person with a different blood group to donate an organ is now being offered at Queen Alexandra Hospital.

The transplant technique which is only available at a handful of hospitals in Europe, allows surgeons to transplant a kidney from donor to recipient even if their blood types do not match. Patients with the functioning transplant will then have an extra 10-15 years of life compared to the treatment option dialysis.

The ABO incompatible transplantation( ABOi) was previously only available in a small number of UK Transplanting centers, meaning  local patients were referred to Oxford or London and  had to travel up to two hours for the procedure and follow up.

Now patients from the region can have the procedure done locally which minimizes inconvenience and offers a comprehensive transplant service to QA's renal department.

During November 2011 a team at QA Hospital performed the first case of ABOi at the Trust.

Recipients of ABOi transplant undergo an administration of special drugs six weeks before the procedure to reduce the number of a particular type of white cells in the blood that would otherwise evolve to produce antibodies which could harm the new kidney. Week before the procedure several dialysis-like sessions are administered to remove antibodies which work against specific protein markers present on the surface of the cells of the transplanted kidney.

ABOi has been available in the USA and Japan since the early nineties but only in the UK for the last five years.

The introduction of the procedure to QA marks a great improvement for both the renal team of QA and local patients in the way kidney disease is managed.

Dr Jasna Macanovic, who led the first transplant procedure of this type at Queen Alexandra says: ‘The renal team of QA are constantly looking for new ways to provide patients with a full range of life-saving and groundbreaking treatments and surgical procedures. It's estimated that a third of potential live donors are turned away due to incompatibility in blood group so I feel proud that we have managed to get this new treatment off the ground. Availability of this procedure will enable more patients to receive live donor transplant in our unit which will undoubtedly improve their quality of life and health and increase their life expectancy.

Best man donates kidney so friend can get married

When Robert Baldwin asked his friend Dan to be his best man, he didn't expect him to go beyond the call of duty.

But Dan Flack took his role very seriously - and has given Mr Baldwin one of his own kidneys so that he can get married and also be a father.

The wedding is due to take place at the end of May - and can only go ahead because Mr Baldwin's life has now been saved by the transplant.

And it will also allow him to see his newborn baby, when his fiance Louise Clough gives birth two weeks before their wedding.

Mr Baldwin, 27, a security guard, said: ‘Dan and I have been best friends since childhood and he really is the greatest friend I could ask for.

‘He was my natural choice to be a best man - but even I didn't expect him to take his duty so seriously that he would give me his kidney so that I could get married and be a father.

‘It is the greatest gift that anyone could ever give, and I can never thank him enough.'

Mr Baldwin, who lives in Basingstoke, was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of three months after he suffered feeding problems at birth.

His mother Rosanna, 58, a logistics coordinator, said: ‘We were told that Robert would need a kidney transplant one day, which was a shock.

‘We'd never imagined that it would be anything as serious as kidney failure.'

Mr Baldwin's condition was managed initially by medication and when he was a child, he met Mr Flack, also now 27. The two became firm friends and when Mr Baldwin had his first kidney transplant at the age of eight, with a kidney donated to him by his father, Mr Flack visited him in hospital.

Mrs Baldwin said: ‘Dan and Robert have been firm friends ever since being young, and Dan has always known that Robert has had kidney problems.

‘When he had his first transplant, Dan came to visit him in hospital. Robert's father had donated him one of his kidneys for his first transplant, and he made a good recovery.

‘After his transplant, the boys went to secondary school together and they are both sports mad. They always spent every spare moment they had together. Once Robert had had his transplant, it gave him a new lease of life.'

In March 2009, Mr Baldwin started to feel tired and exhausted, and tests showed that his donated kidney had started to fail.

Mrs Baldwin said: ‘That was devastating for the family as his father had donated it to him, and now it was failing. Time was once again running out for Rob, as he desperately needed another kidney transplant.

‘Robert was devastated as he thought his dad's kidney was going to last forever.'

Mr Baldwin had to go for dialysis treatment three times a week to keep him alive, where he was hooked up to a machine to clean his blood, to do the job of his failing kidney. And he was once again put on the transplant list.

He had asked Mr Flack to be his best man for his planned wedding to Miss Clough, and then Mr Flack came forward with a remarkable proposal. He offered to donate one of his own kidneys to Mr Baldwin.

Mrs Baldwin said: ‘Robert had asked Dan to be his best man, and when Dan came forward with this offer, we were just so moved. We couldn't believe that he had offered his own kidney to help Robert.

‘But they have always been so close; Dan just wanted to help Robert. He wanted to save his life, and help him still get married and have his baby. It was the ultimate sacrifice to help Robert have his life back.'

Mr Flack was a different blood group to Mr Baldwin and initially doctors didn't think a transplant was possible.

But they came up with a pioneering solution called an ABOi procedure, which involves using drugs to alter the immune system to allow transplants with incompatible blood groups to take place. The procedure is only performed at three UK hospitals.

The transplant took place in November at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, after the procedure had been carried out at that same hospital.

Mr Baldwin said: ‘We were both very nervous before the transplant took place and hugged each other before we went down for our operations.

‘Dan went down first and then I was wheeled down to the operating theatre a few hours later.'

The transplant was a success and both were allowed home from hospital after a week.

Mrs Baldwin said: ‘It was very emotional when they both met up for the first time after the transplant. Robert is so grateful for what Dan has done for him.'

The transplant means that Mr Baldwin's wedding can now go ahead as planned in May and he also is due to be a father two weeks before the wedding.

He said: ‘Dan has given me my life back and has given me the opportunity to get married and be a dad. He really is the best friend I could ask for. And he certainly is the best man for the job.'

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