Kidney swap couple doing well

6:45pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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Transplant couple John and Suzi Macfarlane are recovering well after their odds-beating kidney swap.

Surgeons at Oxford's Kidney Transplant Unit spent seven hours transplanting one of Mr Macfarlane's healthy kidneys into his wife's body last Thursday.

The couple, from Gaisford Road in Cowley, defied 100-1 odds by being not only a suitable blood match, but also a suitable tissue match for a transplant.

Mr Macfarlane, 46, returned home on Saturday.

Tonight, the self-employed plasterer said: "The operation was a great success. From my point of view I felt great straight away and Suzi is also doing really well.

"A friend of mine put me in a wheelchair soon after the op and took me around to her ward to see her.

"She has a lot more colour in her cheeks and although we are both having a bit of discomfort, that's to be expected and we're over the moon with how it's all gone."

The couple were in adjoining operating theatres during the delicate surgery.

Mrs Macfarlane, a unit manager at Littlemore Hospital, was diagnosed with polycystic kidneys in 1990.

The condition causes cysts to grow on the kidneys, eventually suffocating them.

She inherited the condition from her father, who died from it in 1992, aged just 54.

Mrs Macfarlane is due out of hospital tomorrowthurs and is looking forward to being properly reunited with their three children and two grandchildren.

After recuperating the couple are planning a holiday.