Crowborough man donated kidney to ensure he and his wife could start a family

A Crowborough man who donated a kidney so he and his wife could start a family has celebrated the seven year anniversary by raising money for Kidney Research UK.
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James Holdstock, a 38-year-old HR analyst from Crowborough, donated his kidney seven years ago, as part of a chain which meant his wife Jess, 35, was able to have a transplant and the pair were able to start their family.

They are now proud parents to five-year-old Rufus as well as three-month-old Tabitha, who was born during lockdown.

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When the charity was unable to run its London Bridges Walk over seven iconic bridges in the capital, James decided to set his own #MyBridgesChallenge, running 7km a day for seven consecutive days.

James and Jess had a number of bridges to cross during their journey to become a family. Jess, an NHS manager, had a transplant when she was just four years old after her kidneys failed. The transplanted kidney had lasted well, but pregnancy was never going to be straightforward.

James said: “You have to plan a lot more if you want to start a family when you have a transplant. You almost have to get sign off from lots of doctors. You’re taking a gamble because pregnancy put some stress on the kidney.

“And by this point Jess’s was quite an old kidney in donation terms and was in decline.

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“We realised that we’d have to wait for a transplant before starting a family.”

James stepped forward to donate, but found he wasn’t a suitable match for Jess.

Fortunately, the doctors at Guy’s Hospital in London signed them up to the paired scheme.

James explains: “We were lucky that on the first run we got a match with another pair – their donor was a match for Jess and I was a match for their recipient. So seven years ago we did all the operations on the same day and it was a success for us all.”

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James tried to prepare before the operation with information from Kidney Research UK and his doctors, but it wasn’t a hard decision.

In his mind the advantages far outweighed potential problems.

“I thought the benefit of doing it is just incredible, it’s almost like giving life really, certainly a huge quality of life.”

It has been a brilliant success for the whole family and James is keen to help the charity to give something back.

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He said: “It feels brilliant having a family of four now, especially when we didn’t know if it was going to be possible a few years ago. I think it’s life changing, it opened the door to an ocean of emotions.

“I want, for my sake and everyone’s sake, for research to continue.”