Hundredth NI kidney donation saves life of six-year-old stranger

A 40-year-old woman from County Down has become the 100th person from Northern Ireland to donate a kidney to a stranger.

Aly Coyle helped a six-year-old boy from England she had never met by donating so he could undergo a successful life-saving kidney transplant in January.

The significant achievement is being hailed as a landmark moment for organ donation and was marked at a special reception at Stormont on Wednesday, where Aly met Anne Page, the first person to donate to a stranger in Northern Ireland.

"It makes me feel I have done something really worthwhile and I have helped someone for a long time to come," said Aly.

Donating a kidney to stranger was initially illegal in the UK until shortly before 2011.

Aly said her motivation to donate her kidney was her friend who is undergoing dialysis and is still waiting for a donor.

"Initially I went to get tested to see if I was a match for him and I wasn't, but thought if I was considering donating to one person I may as well do it for someone else."

Aly said the whole process was very straightforward.

"It was so easy from start to finish, the team is incredible and you feel so cared for. Four weeks out I am back to 95% fitness, and climbed Cavehill last weekend."

Speaking at the Stormont reception, Anne Page said she has "never looked back from the day and hour" she donated.

She gave one of her kidneys to a man from London, after she discovered her father-in-law and good friend were both on kidney dialysis.

"My message to others is this is a very worthwhile thing to do and you can save someone's life.

"When I received the first letter from the man I helped it was sad to hear what he had been through, 11 years of dialysis, and it made me feel very humble.

"When he said thank you, well, you still have a wee tear now and again," she added.

Aly said she has a nephew the same age as the boy who received her kidney.

"Knowing I have helped someone like my nephew makes me feel really good.

"When I am 60 years old, my kidney will be going to university with him."

Anne said being the first to donate a kidney to a stranger intrigued many people.

"People were standing outside my door in the hospital ward saying: 'Is this the lady in here"> Jack Trotter and his girlfriend Abbie Gallagher, from Newtownards, County Down, were hit by the car as it drove into fans on Water Street, in Liverpool