A BRADFORD man who hopes to be placed on the life-saving organ donor transplant waiting list has appealed for more donors from the city's south Asian community to come forward.
Former paramedic, Mohammed ‘Izzy’ Islam, 46, from Buttershaw, has already gone through one kidney transplant.
In July 2013, his younger brother Fiaz donated one of his kidneys to save his brother’s life at St James’ Hospital, Leeds, after Izzy was told to ask relatives for an organ because of a shortage of suitable donors from his community.
But last year Izzy’s transplanted kidney, which had worked well for nine years, started to fail and the father-of-five now finds himself back on kidney dialysis three times a week for up to four hours a session in a bid to keep him alive until a new kidney can be found.
Izzy said: “Before my first transplant I discovered that I have an auto-immune condition which means my own body attacks my kidneys and they die.
“The kidney my brother donated worked well and I had a normal life until 2021 when it started to fail again – I now have just three per cent kidney function.
I am currently on dialysis again three times a week which is keeping me alive and afterwards I am exhausted
“My quality of life is poor and the treatment is relentless, but it is keeping me alive so I tolerate it. Trying to stay positive isn’t easy though.
“I’ve been told that because of the lack of donors within minority groups like mine, I could be on the transplant waiting list forever, which isn’t what you want to hear.
“My kidney function is three per cent and has never been as low before and because it’s so low, it has made me really, really poorly.”
Izzy is undergoing the final, rigorous tests which all prospective transplant patients are put through in order to ensure they are fit enough to survive the operation.
He is hoping to go back on the transplant list after a final, imminent MRI, but as he has a rare blood group B+ due to his ethnicity, he has been told that finding a kidney match is slim due to a lack of South Asian donors.
Izzy started to realise his transplanted kidney was failing in January 2021 as he began to feel sick.
He was admitted to ward 15 at BRI where he remained for three months until August 2021.
He said: “Being on dialysis turns your life upside down. You have no quality of life and because you have no immunity it’s difficult.”
This national organ donation week, which runs from September 26 to October 2, Izzy is appealing for more donors from his community to come forward and join the organ donor register.
Three in 10 (31 per cent) people waiting for a transplant across the UK are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. Over a third of people (35 per cent) waiting for a kidney are from these backgrounds.
He added: “There is nothing better than to give someone the gift of life.
As a Muslim, I know there are a lot of myths and misconceptions around organ donation there is nothing better you can do than to donate your kidney
“This organ donation awareness week, please sit down with your families and have this conversation as soon as possible.
“Leave your friends and family certain as to what your wishes are. After all, one donor can save the lives of many – it’s a vital and precious gift - if you could help someone by giving them a gift like that, why wouldn’t you do it? It’s about making a sacrifice to each other.”
Meanwhile, a total of 804 people in Yorkshire and the North East are in need of a lifesaving transplant.
Dr James Morgan, clinical lead for organ donation at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Consultant Anaesthetist, said: “In our Trust alone, 122 patients are currently waiting for a kidney transplant and between 2021 and 2022, nine people from the district died waiting for the donor organ that never came which is a tragedy for our patients and their families.”
For more information, or to register your organ donation decision, go to organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.
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