This Is Guernsey

By Shaun Shackleton

Sasha Wilson and boyfriend Chris Walker. A year ago Chris donated one of his kidneys to Sasha after she had suffered renal failure. The pair said the operation has transformed their lives. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0604274)

A YEAR after having shared the gift of life through a kidney transplant, a couple are still proving the perfect match.

In July 2007, Sasha Wilson, 33, was given a kidney by her boyfriend, Chris Walker, 30. Today the operation has transformed their lives.

Since the age of eight, Sasha has suffered from nephritic syndrome, a condition where the kidneys start working in the wrong way and leak protein from the bloodstream into urine.

She had been prescribed water tablets and told that she would grow out of it.

But things worsened after the birth of her three sons, Connor, Zackary and Joel.

By the time her last child reached his first birthday, Sasha had suffered renal failure.

There followed three years of dialysis three times a week at four hours a time.

At first, Sasha didn’t even want to go on to the transplant list.

‘I had this feeling I would never come back from the operating theatre,’ she said.

But when Chris saw how the 12 hours a week of dialysis was taking its toll, he made his proposal.

‘I just said: “You can have one of mine if you like”,’ he said.

‘Everyone thinks that I asked Chris for his kidney,’ said Sasha, ‘but he offered. It’s not something that you ask somebody.’

Tests at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital brought good news.

‘They were a perfect match. They said it was even better than if we were related.’

After more tests at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, the transplant of Chris’s left kidney – which the couple nicknamed Sidney – went ahead on 6 July 2007.

Sasha and Chris had dozens of photographs taken in hospital, which now have pride of place in an album.

‘Opening the book now really touches me,’ said Sasha.

It’s not hard to understand why.

Ten days afterwards, her body rejected the transplant and Sasha feared she was going to lose Chris’s kidney.

But she and ‘Sidney’ pulled through and the couple eventually returned to Guernsey.

Twelve months on and things are virtually back to normal.

Sasha returned to work in April for the first time in four years and the household is now a busy thoroughfare for the three growing boys and a trio of dogs.

‘There’s a few things I can’t eat, such as live yogurts and blue cheese, but a lot more than I could eat before the transplant,’ said Sasha.  ‘I just feel so lucky.’

Chris is also getting back to normal.

‘It was the weirdest thing [after the operation]. I looked slimmer on one side than the other.’

The couple recommend the transplant to others in a similar situation but they did issue a warning.

‘You can’t just do it,’ said Chris.

‘You’ve got to be close. There’s a lot of emotional stuff.’

‘And not all happy stuff,’ said Sasha.

‘Certainly don’t rush into it. You’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to want it yourself.’

She added: ‘Chris has given me the gift of life.’

‘But I do remind her, though,’ he joked.

Article posted on 18th August, 2008 - 2.30pm