Mother and Father Both Donate Kidneys to Their Daughter

After the kidney that Julie Robson's father donated to her, she was lucky enough to receive another donated kidney from her mother.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on November 23 2009

Image: iStockphoto

Ten years ago, Julie Robson, from Tyne and Wear, England, received a kidney donation from her father. The transplant seemed to go perfectly, and Ronson was once again able to live a normal life. She was in the final throes of planning a beautiful wedding to her fiancé, Mark, when, two days before the ceremony, she suddenly collapsed.

After Ronson was taken to the hospital, doctors discovered that her body had begun to reject the kidney. Without a new donor, she faced a lifetime of painful dialysis treatments and poor health.

Rather than host a star-studded benefit concert akin to 30 Rock‘s “Kidney Now!” performance, Ronson turned to another source of help: her mother. Luckily, her mother also proved to be a match for the kidney transplant.

The operation was a moving experience, she said. “I don’t remember too much about waking up, but the nurses said I was asking how my mum was six or seven times as I was coming round,” she told the Telegraph.
After the procedure, Ronson quickly bounced back, and last September, the happy couple finally tied the knot. Slaley Hall, where the wedding was held, rescheduled it for them free of charge.

Although many people have received kidney donations from family members, Ronson is one of just a few who has received kidneys from both parents: In the United Kingdom, only 15 such cases have occurred in the last 50 years.

All three family members are now in fine health, and Ronson’s father has only one regret: Ronson’s mother’s surgery “was done through a keyhole,” she said.

“When my dad had his operation they almost had to cut him in half. So he keeps saying now that he wishes my mum could’ve gone first.”

Filed under: General Interest, Health and Wellbeing, Weird,

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