Three donors and three recipients comprised the kidney transplant donor chain that included Ronnie and Ruth White. Ronnie donated one of his kidneys to a stranger so that Ruth could have a kidney transplant from another stranger. Ronnie remains amazed.
“We still can’t get our heads around the fact this was possible.”
They had hassles with getting through all the tests, as is common, but in the end, the transplants took place in early 2010.
“As far as I know we were the first people in Northern Ireland to take part in this procedure, and some of the first in the UK. It’s absolutely incredible. I went into theatre at 9am and Ruth got her new kidney at about 3pm the very same day.”
Ronnie never looked back when he didn’t match Ruth, once he heard about the kidney transplant donor chain option.
“As soon as I heard that I thought that if I could help I wanted to go ahead. I may not have known the person who was going to get my kidney, but ultimately Ruth would benefit and as far as I was concerned I had two kidneys and only needed one of them, so it was a pretty straightforward decision. …
“I was sore for a couple of weeks but I helped to save lives and it has made such a difference to Ruth. We’re very pleased with how it all went.”