A mother and son from Ruthin, Denbighshire, who share a unique bond through a kidney donation, will celebrate by skiing in the World Transplant Winter Games in Bormio, Italy. Julie Baddock donated one of her own kidneys to her son Alex. He had to wait until he was three to receive the transplant, so spent much of his early life needing dialysis at night. The nine-year wait for the transplant meant the family could barely manage even simple moments of normality, making Julie’s donation “life-changing”.
Alex, who was only four when he first started skiing, will be competing in the giant slalom and other events against competitors from around the world. After testing, it emerged that Alex’s parents were matches, but it was not until he was tall enough to accept an adult organ that he was able to have a transplant. His mother described the relief of Alex’s three-year surgery saying: “It’s amazing how quickly things just improved, it was just a complete transformation.”
Six months after Alex’s operation, he and Julie took part in the British Transplant Games in Newcastle. Julie admitted being racked with nerves, worried about something going wrong. They made an incredible recovery, and Alex continued skiing, allowing the family to lead a somewhat normal life, which culminates in the event in Italy. The World Transplant Winter Games take place every two years and are open to anyone who has received a solid organ transplant including liver, heart, lung, kidney, pancreas or bone marrow. The British team includes 19 people who have had transplants, eight live donors and three donor family members
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