TEENAGE kidney patient Lauren Senior will have to begin having dialysis by the end of the month – barring a miracle.

The Pocklington girl’s mother, Debbie, said yesterday her latest blood test results showed her kidney function had declined even further.

“They wanted her to start dialysis now, but she begged for another fortnight and they agreed to hold off until the end of June,” she said.

“But unless there’s a miracle and they improve, I think they will want to operate to put in some tubes and then start her on dialysis straight away.”

She said Lauren, 16, had been “gobsmacked” by the news after doing her utmost to avoid having to go on to dialysis.

“She was saying: ‘Why me? Why does this have to happen to me? I have taken all the right medication and had the right diet’.”

Debbie said she did not yet know how often each week Lauren would need to undergo dialysis, which compensates for kidney failure by mechanically carrying out the functions normally done by the organ.

Lauren suffers from a rare condition called chronic renal impairment, secondary to reflux nephropathy and renal dysplasia.

Her mother is backing The Press’s Lifesavers campaign for thousands more people to join the organ donor register and help save Lauren’s life. She has told previously how she had wanted to give one of her kidneys to Lauren, only to discover she had the same kidney illness. Instead of a live transplant operation, she had to have a diseased kidney removed for her own health.

If a suitable organ is found for Lauren, she would have the transplant at St James Hospital in Leeds.

Latest figures show there are 527 patients, from across the York, Leeds, Bradford and Hull region, waiting for such an operation – of whom 28 are children.

A hospital spokesman said that since the beginning of January, there had been 39 transplants to adults and six to children.

“This is broadly similar to figures from last year,” he said.


Donor appeal

Our Lifesavers campaign aims to get an extra 20,000 people in our region on to the Organ Donor Register by the end of 2010.

To join:

• Go online at organdonation.nhs.uk

• Phone the 24-hour donor line on 0300 1 232323

• Text SAVE to 84118


Get in touch

Are you waiting for an organ transplant? Why not help us to help you? As part of our Lifesavers campaign, we are keen to raise awareness of organ donation and what it means to the people involved.

If you have a story to tell, you can phone 01904 567131, email newsdesk@thepress.co.uk or write to Newsdesk, The Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN.