Sister's gift of life to her poorly brother

A TEESDALE mother-of-three whose son narrowly avoided death twice has hailed her daughter for giving him the “gift of life” and raising £2,000 for charity.

Woodland’s Maureen Gwilliam feared she had lost her son, Andrew, twice – first to a deadly double kidney failure discovered by an optician at the 11th hour and second to a bacterial infection which left him fighting for his life last year.

The 69-year-old revealed how her daughter, Alison Maddison, stepped in after he suffered a kidney failure on returning from Kuwait in 2014.

Mrs Gwilliam said: “Andrew had returned for the summer holidays – he’d complained to me he was having problems with his peripheral vision.

“Fortunately Cooper and Leatherbarrow, in Darlington, had a cancellation for a 10am appointment the following day. Two hours after I dropped him off he was at Darlington Memorial.”

Mr Gwilliam was diagnosed with double kidney failure and rushed to Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital for emergency dialysis. He was in hospital for two weeks.

Mrs Gwilliam offered up her left kidney but two years of tests saw her organ deteriorate beyond donation quality.

His sister offered her left kidney as a replacement in April this year.

Mrs Gwilliam added: “This was the answer to our prayers. We are all so thankful for the gift of a kidney from Alison.

“We know how much Alison had to go through for giving her brother a healthy kidney.

“It is a gift which will hopefully last for the rest of his life.”

Five months on from the life-saving gesture, Mrs Maddison ran the Great North Run for Kidney Research and Hurworth Primary School where she is headteacher.

She said: “It was fabulous – I had never run in my life and it was a case of starting running to get fit for the operation – I have got a family so I did not want to risk not coming out of it. It was only when I was running that I thought it would be a good to make the most of the opportunity.”

Half the final total she raises will go to Kidney Research with the other half going to Hurworth School.

Ms Maddison added: “It was life changing for me and life changing for my brother – to literally give him the gift of life has been a privilege and a very humbling experience.”

However, the lead up to Mr Gwilliam’s life saving transplant was not smooth.

Mrs Gwilliam explained: “In August 2016, Andrew was back in the UK for a family party in Scotland. Sadly, he picked up a bacterial infection and on our return he was admitted to James Cook where he was in agony, critically ill and fighting for his life in a side ward.

“It was hell observing our son dying – all we could do was pray.”

However, Mr Gwilliam experienced what his mum described as a “Lazarus moment”.

She said: “Andrew suddenly sat up and asked for a drink of water. Doctors, nurses and hospital staff could not believe their eyes. It was a modern miracle.”

The “A-team” siblings Alison, Andrew and Amanda moved out of Darlington with their parents in 1978 attending Woodland Primary School and Staindrop School afterwards.

Mr Gwilliam went on to be a teacher at an International School in Kuwait.