A dad is desperate for a kidney transplant to keep up with his three grandchildren but is falling victim to the UK’s shortage of Black and Asian donors.
Ayo Samuel, 58, and his family are appealing for more people of Black and Asian heritage to register as organ donors.
He is desperate to join youngsters Harry, eight, Luca, six and Hunter, five, for a game of football.
The grandad whose daughter is pregnant with his fourth grandchild, told the Mirror: “Asking people for help is something I find quite difficult.
“I am trying to find a live donor to help change my life. It would be amazing to have more energy and be able to play with my grandchildren again.
“My grandson Harry asks me; ‘Grandad, will you play with me?’ and I have to tell him ‘I can’t Harry. I’m sorry’. So I watch instead.
“When I go away on holiday with them I have to be wheelchaired through the airport. I can’t walk miles and pull a suitcase.
“Everywhere you go I take the escalator and lifts, rather than stairs. It’s all those things that leave me breathless.”
There are currently around 7,000 patients waiting for transplant in the UK with more than three quarters of these patients needing a kidney.
At one hospital trust a massive 80 per cent of those on the kidney transplant waiting list were from the BAME community.
Ayo is one of those on this list, desperately hoping for a live donor to come forward as this has a higher degree of success.
It will be the second live transplant Ayo has had, after his brother donated in 2019.
Sadly that transplant failed after a few years because of a blood clotting issue which has since been fixed, with consultants clearing him for a second attempt.
Since the New Year he has been hunting for a donor.
His daughter, Hollie Samuel, 29, from Ipswich, said: “The first time I wasn’t a match and my uncle was. It was frustrating because I wanted to help and I couldn’t. I felt useless to him being his only daughter.
“It’s difficult because he was an active playful grandad and he really wants to join in and gets teary sometimes.
“We all go on holiday together and he wants to do all this stuff with us and he can’t - he feels really restricted. He gets really breathless.
“My oldest Harry tries to make him feel better and has told him ‘I know because of your poorly kidney Grandad I have to be more gentle with you.’
“My dad is not a very emotional person, I’ve only ever seen him cry maybe three times.
“The first time was when he told me about his kidney issue, the second time when he came round lying next to his brother after the transplant and the third time was when he was saying he feels he’s let my uncle down for the kidney failing.
“It is life-changing. If anyone can help it would be amazing. It would mean so much to us all. It would change everything for us.”
Ayo from Bracknell in Berkshire, told how he was diagnosed with a failing kidney after suffering high blood pressure.
About his brother, he is reduced to tears and adds: “I will be forever grateful. I get upset when I say it but I still think I’ve let him down, he’s gone through so much and after four years it doesn't work any more.
“The hardest thing I could do was to tell him ‘it’s failing, I need another one’. He said ‘look you haven't let me down’.”
About the shortage of donors, he said: “Some people within the BAME community are very sceptical about doctors and medicine.
“But organ donation is a great and wonderful gift. I understand what I am asking someone to do is a big thing.
“That’s why I think I’ve let my brother down, it’s a massive thing for me. But If you can help then please do.”
His consultant transplant surgeon and clinical lead for transplantation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, Frank Dor, said of the kidney transplant surgery: “Donating a kidney as a living donor is safe provided people are properly tested and followed up.
“They are reviewed by several nurses and consultants (surgeons and physicians) in their work up phase.
“Driving a car around London every day is more dangerous.
“And it is one of the most beautiful things that people can do.”
He said the difference in patients after having the transplant is like “night and day”.
He described the issue of donor organ shortages as a “very serious issue”.
“In the BAME community this problem is even bigger,” he said.
“A lot of people have more difficult blood groups to match with and there are less donors from the BAME community on top of cultural issues.”
He said at his trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, a massive 80 per cent of their kidney transplant waiting list of 460 people involves non-white patients.
Winnie Andango, Lead nurse for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Organ Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “There remains an urgent need for people of Black and Asian heritage to discuss and share their support for organ donation.
“Currently over three-quarters of people waiting for a transplant in the UK are waiting for a kidney.
“These patients can be saved by those who donate after death or by a living donor. With the number of people waiting for kidneys continuing to rise, the chances of finding a suitable donor are higher when a potential donor is of the same ethnicity.”
More information on the appeal is available here.
