When sisters Amy and Grace Battison each needed a lifesaving kidney transplant eight years apart, their parents stepped up without hesitation.
Mum Elaine and stepdad Paul Brewin each donated a kidney as the girls were struck down in turn by a rare disease which causes end stage renal failure by around the age of 13.
First, Amy, now 26, received her mother’s kidney in February 2014 – then, just last September, Grace was saved after her stepdad donated his kidney to a ‘kidney pool’ so she could have her transplant too.
Now the family is celebrating by taking part in next month’s (AUGUST) Transplant Games in Nottingham.
Mrs Brewin, 45, a civil servant, from the Wirral, said: ‘Neither Paul nor myself hesitated. Amy especially struggled on dialysis, so to her get her life back was incredibly emotional.
(L to R) Amy Brewin ,26, mum Elaine,45, stepdad Paul and Grace Brewin,13, pictured at their home in Moreton, Merseyside. When sisters Amy and Grace Battison each needed a lifesaving kidney transplant eight years apart, their parents stepped up without hesitation. Mum Elaine and stepdad Paul Brewin each donated a kidney as the girls were struck down in turn by a rare disease which causes end stage renal failure by around the age of 13
Amy Brewin in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool,Merseyside, in Feb. 2014
(L to R) Grace Brewin, Sam Battison, Izzy Battison, Eva Brewin, Elaine and Paul Brewin on holiday at Centre Parcs, Cumbria, in Sept.2022
Luckily. Grace was caught earlier thanks to Amy, so we knew what it would mean for her if she hadn’t had a transplant when she did. To see them so well now means such a lot to both of us.’
Amy’s became sick eleven years ago, suffering pain in her legs.
Mrs Brewin said: ‘I’d been back and forth to the GP for several months who said it was just growing pains. But she started being very sick too, and was missing a lot of school and going out with her friends.
‘I took her back to the GP who said she didn’t think anything was wrong, until she got on the scales and weighed her. She could see how much weight she had lost, and told us to take her straight to the A and E department at Arrowe Park Hospital.
‘The doctors there initially thought it was the eating disorder bulimia, but then blood tests showed there was a problem with her kidneys. Her levels were so high that no-one could understand how she had walked into the hospital without collapsing.’
Sisters Amy,26,(R) and Grace Brewin,13, (L) pictured at their home in Moreton, Merseyside, who both have been saved by a kidney transplant from their parents Elaine and stepdad Paul
Amy Brewin ,26,(R) and her mum Elaine,45, (L) pictured at their home in Moreton, Merseyside. Elaine donated her kidney to save her daughter
Amy was diagnosed with an incredibly rare kidney disease called Juvenile Nephronophthisis.
Mrs Brewin said: ‘Instinctively I had known something was the matter with Amy, but I never imagined how serious it actually was. Amy was only 15 and she was in end stage failure. They told us that her only chance of survival was a kidney transplant. It was such a shock.’
Her kidney proved a good match, and the took place in February 2014 at Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Mrs Brewin said: ‘I was nervous as it was major surgery for both of us, but mainly I was excited that Amy was going to get her life back. When the wheeled me down to see her, it was so emotional. We both couldn’t stop crying. She looked so healthy straight away, with lovely pink skin. It was totally different to how she’d looked when she was ill.’
Amy went on to pass her GSCE and A Level exams. She graduated from university too.
The family thought they had put their nightmare behind them, until February 2022 when Grace, then only 11, started complaining of pains in her legs too.
Mrs Brewin said: ‘I asked for a blood test because of what had happened to Amy. It showed she was in kidney failure and needed a transplant too.’
This time, Mr Brewin, 48, stepped in. But he wasn’t a good enough match. Instead, he donated his kidney into a ‘paired scheme’, which meant that Grace was given another kidney in a ‘swap’.
The transplant in September, also at Manchester Children’s Hospital, was also a success.
Mrs Brewin said: ‘Paul’s kidney went to save someone in London, and because of that a donor gave one to save Grace. We know that he was a man in his 20’s who had donated altruistically, and we can’t thank him enough.’
Grace has made a full recovery and the family are about to participate in the British Transplant Games. Grace is taking part in the tug of war. (MUST LEAVE)
Mrs Brewin added: ‘Paul and I are both competing in the ‘onesie’ race, where all the competitors just have one kidney because of donating. We are just so glad that we could help our daughters like this and give them their lives back.’
