Cumbrian man whose life was saved by his brother celebrates organ donation week

Two brothers who say their lives were transformed are encouraging others to consider becoming organ donors.

Paul Caine and his brother Alan founded an event which celebrates living organ donation to mark the NHS’s organ donation week. It runs from Monday 18 September to Sunday 24 September and aims to attract 25,000 new donors to register.

Paul was 11 years old when he was diagnosed with a kidney disease which forced him to put his life on hold in order to attend dialysis treatments three times a week for the next decade. That was until a kidney became available from the organ donors register.

In 1997 Paul’s kidney replacement also began to fail, restarting the cycle dialysis treatments.

When it was found that Paul’s brother Alan was a match, he offered to donate his own kidney and as a result, saved his brother's life.

Paul said: “After ten years on dialysis, I was getting pretty caught up. You know, there are various things we have to do to keep you alive. And I was really I was ready to die, but I wanted to live. My life was a bit like a desert.

"When I got that kidney, it was like an oasis. It was just so amazing. I found a job, I was fit and healthy. I met this lovely lass. We got engaged and married within six months. We had our first child within a year after that. I was flying everything I wanted.

“I remember when I got my first transplant and I felt awful emotionally initially that she had to die so I could live. But then I look at my brother and he's my hero and they need to be recognised and honoured because these are real heroes. They walk into an operating theatre and they take the pain so that someone else can gain.

Currently, there are only around 1,400 organ donations in the UK each year, with over 7000 people waiting for an organ transplant.

A healthy person can lead a normal life with only one functioning kidney, therefore is able to donate the other to help someone in need of a kidney transplant. Part of a liver can also be transplanted from a living donor to help someone in need of a liver transplant.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust are also marking Organ Donation week by encouraging the public to have open conversations with their families and register their decision about organ donation.

Alan Caine, said: “It's the best decision I've ever made. I say that because I'm giving it to Paul is his wife's good husband, but his children were very young at the time. All he wanted to do was watch his children, grow up. And he's achieved what we've achieved.

"He's ten years younger than me, I still want to outlive me. And I think he will. I think we gave him the best kidney. They always do. Like, I'm really I'm not good with pain and had to put up with it. It was worth it was worth the effort. 

Organs that can be donated by people who have died include heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and small bowel.

One person donating after their death can provide life-saving transplants for up to 9 recipients, restore eyesight for up to 4 people and prevent another 6 people from going blind.

A further 40 people could be helped through transplanting heart valves, tendons, ligaments, bone or blood vessels and severe burns can be treated by donated skin grafts.

Sharon Uhrig, Donation Liaison Nurse, said: “I think it's important to raise awareness, especially around living donation because a lot of people might not be as aware of living donation as they are of deceased donation. There's currently about 5,000 people waiting on the register for the kidney at the moment.

Lana Maddison, Wigton, was just 19 when she tragically lost her life in a car accident in 2021.

It is believed she died at the scene as her heart was not beating when the ambulance arrived, however, they managed to restart her heart and she was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary.

Sadly, tests confirmed Lana had broken her neck.

Lana joined the organ donation register 2 years before and told her family about her wishes. Knowing what Lana wanted made a devastating situation that little bit easier for her family and the organ donation process gave them a little more time to say their goodbyes.

Lana’s mum, Lisa Maddison, told us her story: “I believe Lana made it to Carlisle in time so that she could donate her organs. We had discussed organ donation a couple of years earlier.

"I remember being in the kitchen when Lana was completing her donation form online at the age of 17, we laughed as she told me she didn’t want to donate her eyes or heart, I said ‘Don’t worry Lana, I doubt anyone would want your eyes as you can’t see very well anyway.’

"So, when we were approached in ITU, there was really no decision for us to make, we already knew her wishes. Lana was very caring and compassionate; we knew we had to follow her last wishes through."