Hampshire: Oldest kidney donor celebrates 95th birthday

A man who became the UK's oldest person to donate a kidney to a stranger has celebrated his 95th birthday.

Nicholas Crace, from Hampshire, gave his left kidney to a woman in Sheffield in 2012, when he was 83.

The former charity director said both he and the recipient were still in touch and "doing well".

NHS Blood and Transplant said seven people aged 80 or over had donated kidneys altruistically since Mr Crace's gift.

The organisation said his age record had been surpassed but it could not give further details.

Mr Crace, formerly of Overton, said he contacted the NHS about his kidney when "there wasn't very much for me to do" following his wife's death in 2011.

He said: "I'd been a blood donor all my life and I thought it might be useful to give another thing away.

"I thought, I don't suppose they'll want it but I'll give it a shot."

Mr Crace had the operation at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and was sent home with painkillers which he said he never took.

He said the recipient, who had been on dialysis for four years, enjoyed a "new life" following the transplant.

"She could travel, she could go on holiday, she could do all sorts of things that she couldn't do before," he explained.

"People think dialysis solves the kidney's problems but it doesn't."

Mr Crace celebrated his birthday with staff at Sutton Manor Care Home in Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, where he lives.

The charity Give A Kidney, which promotes donations, said only six people made "non-directed", or altruistic, donations in the UK in 2007/08.

However, it said the number had since increased to between 80-110 each year.

It added more than 4,500 people were on the NHS waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].