IT took her four months to recover, but Leanne Bradley said today it was all worth it to see her brother, Paul, well again.

Courageous Leanne gave Paul a very special gift - she provided one of her kidneys so he could lead a normal life.

Paul, 15, needed a new organ because a previous transplant operation six years earlier had been unsuccessful.

Without a new kidney, he faced returning to a life of dialysis and hospital visits.

But now the football-mad teenager is fighting fit - playing soccer with his mates and attending school full time.

As the pair recovered at their home in the Leeman Road area of York, Paul wanted to express his gratitude to his big sister.

He gave Leanne, 21, a card which read: "The word thank you is said too easily...thank you for everything you have done for me."

Paul, a pupil at Manor School, said: "I couldn't say it in words, so I sent her a card. But I feel very thankful."

Leanne, a shop assistant who is training to be a beauty and massage therapist, said she did not think twice about helping her brother. She said: "I just thought, I've got two kidneys, but I only need one."

The operation, which took place at St James's Hospital, in Leeds, six months ago, is the second time Paul has endured transplant surgery. Aged nine, he underwent a gruelling 15-hour double liver and kidney operation in Birmingham.

Paul was born with the genetic condition hyperoxaluria, which causes stony deposits affecting the body's ability to process waste and which eventually leads to organ failure.

He was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure when he was seven and spent 18 months on the transplant waiting list, enduring trips to hospital in Leeds three times a week for dialysis until he received his new organs.

While his new liver worked well, it was five months before the kidney began to work properly and doctors and family were concerned that at some point in the future, Paul would need another kidney.

These fears came true last year when Paul was told he would need another transplant - or go back on dialysis. Family and friends underwent tests to see if they could donate a kidney to Paul.

Leanne turned out to be the perfect match.

Leanne underwent counselling before the operation. She said: "All my friends kept telling me that I was brave... but it didn't hit me until I was on the operating table."

It took Leanne four months to recover from the operation, but she said it was worth all the pain and discomfort to see her brother well again. She said she now had the perfect way to tease Paul when he does something to annoy her. "I tell him: I'll have it back!"

Proud mum Lynne, a social worker at York Hospital, said she hoped their story would encourage more people to join the donor register - and tell their next of kin of their wishes.

:: Organ donor factfile

There are more than 8,000 people in need of a transplant in the UK

The shortage of donors means fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year

Around 400 people die each year while waiting for a transplant

Four in ten families refuse consent to organ donation, citing as the main reason that they did not know their loved one's wishes

Surveys show nine in ten of us support organ donation, but fewer than one in five of us are on the central register

To register: telephone 0845 60 60 400 or log on to www.uktransplant.org.uk or pick up a leaflet from your GP's surgery

Updated: 08:36 Saturday, April 01, 2006