Dad donates kidney to stranger after daughter's transplant

A father has donated a kidney to a stranger after his own daughter received her own life-changing kidney from a donor.

Arfon Jones, from Cardiff, joined a living donor scheme although he found he was not a match for daughter Seren, 19, who became seriously unwell and ended up having both kidneys removed.

He became a donor last month after she received a donor kidney in April.

"I felt that I had given someone a nice Christmas present," he said.

After months of Seren being on dialysis for 10 hours every night, Arfon took an early morning call last April to say that a suitable kidney had become available.

"It's such a huge gift," she said.

"Without the kidney I wouldn't be alive today, possibly, or I would certainly have had to continue with 10 hours of dialysis."

Arfon said the phone call was "amazing".

"They operated overnight and it has all changed our life completely."

While Seren was awaiting a kidney, the family came across the NHS's living donor scheme and, although Mr Jones was not a match, he felt compelled to help others.

He said he did not know who had received his kidney but he understood that their health was improving.

"After Seren got her new kidney, she was told that I could get off the living donor list and that's when I had a very strange experience," said Arfon.

"It was as if I heard a voice telling me 'there is someone else who needs your kidney' and I just felt that I had to stay on the list."

He had the procedure in December and said: "It felt like I'd given someone quite a nice Christmas present and it was nice to know that I'm healthy enough to donate a kidney given that I'm almost 70."