The Sunday Mirror, June 22, 2014

(Corrections to article in yellow by Sue).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big-hearted organ donor Sue ­Gianstefani is giving away her body – one piece at a time.

The 47-year-old mum of one has donated a kidney to a stranger, her eggs to a childless couple and part of her liver to a sick little boy.

Sue is even trying to give away a lung, 

 

(actually I am only considering giving away a lobe of my lung)

 

which would make her the only living person in the world to have made so many altruistic donations.

She said: “To be able to give someone their life back is fantastic. At the moment, giving a lung isn’t possible in this country, but I’d love to do it.”

 

(actually, I am only trying to research the possibility before making any decisions about lung lobe donation.)

 

Sue’s first donation was the kidney in 2001. She explained: “You don’t need two kidneys, a lot of people are born with only one. Why not give one to someone who needs it?   But at that time it was illegal here to give to a stranger.

 

 

“The feeling was that anyone who wanted to give an organ to a stranger was either doing it for money, being coerced or they were crazy.”

 

So Sue from Dulwich, south London, who accepts only travel and living expenses, posted an internet ad saying: “Free kidney, no strings attached.”

 

(I accepted travel and living expenses for the time I travelled to the USA to donate to Larry.   I accepted local travel expenses when donating my eggs in Sydney and I accepted travel expenses from the NHS when I donated part of my liver here in London.)

 

Larry Rosenfield from Colorado in the US answered the ad. He was 60, suffering from a genetic kidney disease, on dialysis, and time was running out.

After establishing she was a match for Larry, Sue flew to the US. “The Colorado hospitals wouldn’t accept me because it was the time of mad cow disease, so Larry found a hospital in Wisconsin that would do the op.”

 

 

Larry is now 73 and leading a full and active life. He told us: “I was ecstatic when I found Sue. She is my angel. I’m looking for a kidney for my sister now.”

 

After reading about the kidney op, a childless couple in Australia then asked Sue if she would donate her eggs. She said: “I was 40 but thought I’d give it a go so I went to Australia”.

 

(I was 37 not 40)

 

Three of the 27 eggs she donated were successfully fertilised but Sue lost contact with the parents and doesn’t know if the pregnancy was successful.

 

(All three attempted pregnancys sadly failed).

 

Finally, last December, she donated part of her liver to save the life of a dying two-year-old. “I contacted the NHS to say I wanted to do it and Kings Hospital in South London came on straight away. They had a little boy very close to death. I don’t know who he is but he’s doing well and started nursery in April.”

 

 

Now Sue would like to donate a lung.

 

(No.  Now I am interested in finding out more about living lung lobe donation.)

 

In 2006, altruistic ­donations became legal in the UK, but not for lung donations so she’s planning to go to America again.

 

(Altruistic organ donations are legal in the UK across the board, but living lung transplants are apparently no longer happening in the UK.)

 

And she insists her husband Roland, 51, and their 19-year-old son Daniel back her all the way.

 

(My son is not too enthusiastic about the possibility of a lung lobe donation)

 

She said: “Some of my friends don’t ­understand but I’ll never regret it.   It’s about changing lives.   It’s a great feeling.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/kidney-egg-liver-donor-giving-3739366#ixzz35Ln2tNCA