THIS young footballer is the picture of health as he helps make a charity soccer tournament a success.

But the very fact that he is alive today is due to his amazing fighting spirit - and to the courage of organ donors who give him, and others like him, the chance of life.

Today Paul Bradley, 11, spoke for the first time about his long fight to recover from a vital double transplant operation.

His parents appealed for people to carry donor cards so that other lives can be saved in the same way.

Paul, of Leeman Road, had both a kidney and a liver transplant in a mammoth 15-hour operation three years ago.

He was diagnosed in 1997 with the rare metabolic condition hyperoxaluria, which causes stony deposits affecting the body's ability to process waste and which eventually leads to organ failure.

Two years of regular dialysis at St James's Hospital, Leeds, followed the diagnosis, until one day a pager beeped to say a matched donor had been found.

Paul was rushed straight to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where his surgery took place.

His mother, Lynne, said: "I don't know how we got through that time, we just had to.

"Thankfully the call from theatre told us things had gone well."

After the operation, Paul and his family stayed at the hospital for three months as his recovery began.

His weight dropped to two stones and he was rushed back to theatre after some complications.

His family then endured an anxious five-month wait before the new kidney started to work.

It refused to "bed itself in" until five months later, when they visited Doctor Lee-Ping Hann, who has surgeries in Tadcaster Road, York, and Bradford.

Dr Hann tried a technique known as magnetic therapy, and the kidney soon started working.

Lynne said: "We don't know whether it was because of Dr Hann's work or not, we were just glad the kidney started to function.

"If it hadn't, he would have had to go back on the transplant list, but he was way too ill for another operation."

Paul, a pupil at Manor School, York, said there were times during his recovery that he feared the worst.

He said: "I don't remember much about the operation or the time afterwards when I was in intensive care. I didn't really know what was happening.

"I can remember bits of when I was getting better at home though, and sometimes I felt all right, sometimes I felt really ill."

Although Paul still has to have regular blood tests, Lynne said he is now the healthiest he has been for years. He refuses to accept he has been brave.

"I don't see myself that way," he said.

Paul's story only came to light after his cousin, Kerry Holder, organised yesterday's five-a-side competition to raise money for the annual Children's Transplant Games.

The games are held in support of transplant departments and for the enjoyment of the young patients.

Paul's family said they would like to thank friend Matt Elliott, who recently raised £200 through a sponsored run from Selby to York.

They also urged York residents to carry a donor card and let their families know their donation wishes. Anyone who would like to donate can phone Kerry on 07803001666.

Updated: 11:35 Monday, August 19, 2002