UK Baby’s Kidneys Donated to Save 22-Year-Old Woman’s Life

Losing a loved one to unexpected death is really heartwrenching, specially if it involved a newly born baby. But the parents of an unidentified UK baby decided to go the extra mile to donate their child's kidneys to a patient who badly needed it, in the hopes that someday they would be able to feel their child's presence again."

"Words cannot express the gratitude I feel to the parents of this baby. My life was standing still - now I can live it," Samira Kauser, the 22-year-old healthcare assistant from Halifax, West Yorkshire, who received the UK baby's kidneys, said.

"They have lost so much more than I can ever comprehend. Their only solace is that someone else has been able to carry on with their life. It is a massive gift," Ms Kauser, who had spent nine hours every night on dialysis prior to the transplant, said.

The baby earlier died of heart failure due to a major infection. The child's kidney's which measured 4cm kidneys were donated to Ms Kauser who endured a seven-hour operation at St James's University Hospital in Leeds.

The unidentified baby's kidneys have grown to 7cm, surgeons said. It has the potential to grow further to 75 per cent of full adult size inside Ms Kauser's body.

Ms Kauser's own kidney's failed, following a genetic condition that involved cysts damaging her organs.

"My heart goes out to all the families that find themselves in the position where they have to make a decision about organ donation," Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, told the Sunday Times.

"But organ donation saves lives and donor families talk with pride of ultimately rewarding decision to donate their loved one's organs."

Niaz Ahmad, the surgeon who performed the transplant, said he hoped the successful endeavor would encourage and open minds to more donations of such kind.

"For a number of years, there has been a mental block about using such tiny kidneys, a feeling that they would be too small and not work," Mr Ahmad said.

"There was also a cultural thing among surgeons that we had never used this age group, because of the emotional difficulty of asking parents of a young baby if they were willing. But there is such an acute shortage of organs, that we are now prepared to do this, and this case, I hope, shows that it can work."