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First published on Tuesday 11 July 2000 Kidney unit to get permanent homeA PERMANENT base for Swindon's kidney patients will be established in the town. Councillors at a planning committee last night agreed to grant planning permission to extend the fourth floor of the town's new hospital at Commonhead. At present, Swindon's dialysis unit is based in the Railway Village. It was created following a campaign by the Evening Advertiser and Swindon Kidney Patients' Association and has space for seven beds. Councillors welcomed the decision to provide more beds for the renal unit in the new hospital, which is due to be completed in November 2002. Councillor Keith Small, chairman of Swindon Borough Council's planning committee, said: "I don't think there was a real reason to refuse the application. The increase in number of beds has to be welcomed and I am sure it will also be welcomed by the people of Swindon and those living in the catchment area of the hospital. The number of existing beds is not enough and this goes some way to improve that situation." The Evening Advertiser campaign was launched in January 1998. Until the temporary dialysis unit was opened at the start of this year, Swindon's patients had to leave town for treatment, travelling to Oxford or Bristol three times a week.
Kidney Research UK organised The Great Kidney Walk at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park on Sunday 12 March 2006. 55 people attended the walk, choosing either the 4.5 mile or 6 mile route.
It is hoped that there will be a group from the Swindon Unit next year, when the walk is due to be held in April.
On Saturday 10th September 2005, 164 patients from all parts of the UK, who have all had their transplants more than 25 years, gathered together in The Dorchester Hotel Ballroom in London for a Gala Dinner to celebrate their very special “Gift of Life”. Seven of these patients were from our own Oxford Unit. The longest surviving patient present at the dinner had his transplant operation in 1966. It had been estimated that the 164 recipients present had gained an astonishing 6000 years of extra life between them! All the patients present were given a star-shaped engraved silver paperweight and a scroll showing their name, the date of their operation and their mother unit. The celebratory dinner was the brainchild of Mr Ali Bakran, transplant surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, to mark 2005 as being the 50th anniversary of the first successful kidney transplant between American identical twin brothers – a transplant which lasted about 8 years, there being no immunosuppressant drugs in those days. The main speakers at the event were Mr Ali Bakran, Professor Sir Roy Calne – an eminent transplant surgeon, Geoff Koffman speaking on behalf of UK Transplant and Evan Harris, Liberal MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and himself a renal doctor at The Churchill until he went into full time politics. All the speakers spoke movingly of their great admiration for those families who, when faced with the sudden and grievous loss of a loved one, found the generosity of spirit to allow organ donation to take place. Tribute was also paid to the many live donors (many of whom were present at the dinner) who give a kidney to someone they love. These donors are making up a large proportion of the transplants taking place now. Both these sentiments were echoed throughout the room by all the recipients present and their guests who know only too well what a cherished, but scarce commodity a donated organ is, and how much it is treasured by those who are fortunate enough to receive one. At this point, I’m sure all the Oxford patients would like to pay their own tribute to the wonderful staff, both frontline and the ones we rarely see who work in the background in our own unit, both past and present, who have overseen our treatment throughout the years and who still work so hard to give us a good quality of life. Thank you each and everyone. After an excellent dinner we all “boogied the night away” until 1.00 am when it was time to say goodbye and wish everyone we had met many more happy healthy years with their “Gift of Life”. It was truly a special and very memorable evening. Hopes were expressed that we might meet again in the future – perhaps to celebrate 60 years of transplantation in 2015. David Armitage |
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