YOUNG father Daniel Wright would dearly love to be able to play with his five-year-old son just like any other dad.But the 24-year-old cannot play football or go cycling with his little boy, Callum, until he has a life-transforming kidney transplant.

By John Howard

YOUNG father Daniel Wright would dearly love to be able to play with his five-year-old son just like any other dad.

But the 24-year-old cannot play football or go cycling with his little boy, Callum, until he has a life-transforming kidney transplant.

He has even had to postpone his wedding dreams and the chance to have any more children with his 22-year-old girlfriend Rebecca Rudland until he can receive his new kidney.

Mr Wright, from Ipswich, is in constant pain while he waits for a transplant and has renal failure which he believes is now chronic.

He has to undergo dialysis at the town's hospital three times a week after his home treatment stopped working, and is unable to work or lead a normal life.

Mr Wright had his first transplant aged just four after a throat infection was the beginning of a process that led to his kidneys becoming diseased.

His new kidney only lasted a couple of hours before his body rejected it, and a second kidney he was given when he was 13 lasted until his 18th birthday before problems set in.

Since then he has continued to have problems and is hoping he can receive a third organ to allow him to lead a normal life again.

He said: “I can feel myself going downhill, I feel sometimes that I do not have long left. If I got a new kidney I could do things with my boy, my life would be so much better.

“My condition is pretty poor and is getting worse by the day. I have been waiting six years, which is ridiculous, there has to be a kidney out there somewhere.

“It gets my girlfriend and I down, we want to get married and all we are waiting for is a kidney to make me better. This would transform my life.

“Sometimes I cannot even get out of bed, go out, drive, and cannot do normal things that dads do with their sons.

“Rebecca has to look after me, she is my carer. I just want to do more with Callum. He gets upset - he sees his friends' dads playing football and going to BMX tracks, and wonders why he can't have that.”

Mr Wright added: “The hospital have done everything they can to help. I am not criticising them, but it is just so frustrating.

“I have tubes hanging out of me, in my stomach and neck, so I can link up to the dialysis machines, I can't even give my boy a cuddle because if he pulled them I would be in agony.”

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said all hospitals worked very closely with the NHS-run UK Transplant service.

“There has to be a match for donor organs, it's very complex, you need to have the very best match you can,” she added.

A spokeswoman for Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where the transplant would be carried out, said: “Patients do find they are on the national transplant waiting list for a number of years.

“It is not just a matter of being one of the first on the list, it all depends on tissue and blood matches, the patient's fitness, and their suitability for surgery at the time.

“We are sorry Daniel has concerns about the time waiting for his transplant, and either his transport co-ordinator at Ipswich Hospital or the co-ordinator here at Addenbrooke's would be very happy to discuss this with him.”

The UK Transplant service said there was a desperate short of donors for all organs, and more than 400 people die every year waiting for a transplant. A spokesman for the service said kidney transplants made up the majority of all transplant operations.

n If you would like to find out more about becoming an NHS organ donor call 0845 60 60 400. Lines are open from 7am to 11pm.

john.howard@eadt.co.uk

CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE

The kidneys, the body's filtering system, remove waste materials that collect in the blood. People with Chronic Renal Failure, a progressive loss of the kidney function, can feel tired and lethargic and it is common for those with the condition to be depressed.

Until a transplant becomes possible, the role of the kidneys in filtering out the waste products from the blood can be performed artificially by dialysis.