A North Belfast family are raising awareness for live organ donation as they hope to find a match for their son.
David McKenna would put a smile on anyone's face - the nine-year-old has a passion for drama and performing arts and is a weekly comedy guest on local radio.
But while the youngster may seem like an ordinary child to most, he is battling daily health problems and on a number of medications and injections while also needing tube fed and catheterised.
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David was diagnosed at seven days old with an 18% kidney function so his parents were aware quite early on that he would require a transplant - and so the family soon discovered his dad Jim was a match.
Speaking to Belfast Live, his mum Elizabeth said: "They need the child to be a certain size and weight for a transplant so at that stage it was all about getting him strong enough for the procedure.
"He was given the transplant in Belfast and he was the youngest child that they had transplanted in Northern Ireland - he was four. Previous to that, the children had all gone to England for their transplants.
"About nine months in, the kidney started to reject and at that stage we knew it wasn't going to last the ideal 20 years. We knew transplant was a form of treatment and he would need another.
"Someday it could be somebody belonging to you. It could be your child. It is only when you are walking the walk that you truly realise. When my husband donated his kidney to David, he was in the City Hospital and David was in the Children's Hospital. Jim had his kidney removed and was out of theatre by lunch time and with us in the Children's the next morning. He made it look easy!
"You can do something special, while you are here to see it. While it is important for your loved ones to know your wishes for when you die, there is also the option of seeing those benefits while you are still living.
"While the deceased donor, or the pool are options, the ideal option is that someone comes forward who is a match that can donate."
The McKenna family are doing all they can so that David can take part in the things he loves to do - drama school Belfast School of Performing Arts, Singing Lessons and Cubs.
But these activities do come at a price to the youngster, who will become more tired and weaker than other children his age.
"This kidney donation is all about enhancing David's quality of life," Elizabeth added.
"A transplant for David, if it all goes according to plan, ideally would mean fewer medications, less sickness, less hospital stays and appointments and more energy. He will still be catheterised but it will be about doing the things that his peers do at the same speed and at the same capacity.
"He is not able to keep up at the minute. He is on reduced hours at school because 9-3 is exhausting for him.
"David hasn't been afforded the luxury of enjoying the full benefits of this transplant, that's why we are now raising this awareness and appealing to the public. If we don't get a kidney, he will be connected to a dialysis machine overnight 7 days a week or go to hospital and get the dialysis three to four times a week for four or five hours at a time. That is not ideal for a nine-year-old."
The majority of the tests and investigations in the journey to become a living donor can be carried out in one day, involving urine and blood tests, several scans, a chest X-ray and heart tracing and a meeting with the consultant in the afternoon.
Donate Life explains: "While our priority is always to make sure donation is as safe as possible for the donor, we can actually complete all of this within 2-3 months if necessary."
For more information on organ donation and becoming a living donor, please follow this link.
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