‘Now I have an obligation to my son to live for at least another fifteen years.’ Photo: Wendrie Heywood
From me to you
When Walter Storey underwent a kidney transplant he found it a demanding, yet spiritual, experience. Here he shares his story
When do you think you are going to die? Well, you don’t know and neither do I but I have had some of the best medical brains in the North of England look me over and they decided that I stood a good chance of living another fifteen years, so a transplant was worthwhile. My transplant was an ‘elective’ operation. In my son’s case, the donor, his was the gift and to have an operation to remove a kidney was elective. If you are having an elective operation you are made aware, several times, that you might die. Though the possibility of me or my son dying on the operating table was remote, being reminded of the possibility focuses your mind.
