Oldest kidney donor, 71, is giving one to his wife

By Martyn Halle, sundaymirror.co.uk 27/04/2008

Bill and Norma Armstrong (SM)

EXCLUSIVE and organ saves HIS WIFE, 70

At 71 Bill Armstrong is Britain's oldest live kidney donor... after giving one of his to wife Norma.

Years of taking drugs for depression had damaged her kidneys and eventually she was put on dialysis as she waited for a suitable donor.

Then Bill realised he might be able to help.

Norma, 70, said: "He was mowing the grass one day when he tapped on the window and said, 'I was thinking, I've got two kidneys and I don't need them both, so why don't you have one?"

Bill added: "She was really taken aback and asked if I really meant it and of course I said I did.

We have been married for 49 years so you think I could do something."

Bill and Norma, of Tilehurst, Berks, then approached doctors at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, who agreed to go ahead after the couple were found to be a good tissue match.

After six months of tests the transplant was scheduled for March 27. Bill, a retired water engineer, was given anaesthetic and made ready for the operating theatre. But the op was cancelled at the last minute as Norma was too ill.

Bill said: "I woke up thinking, 'I don't feel too bad, there's not much pain', and then I was told that the operation hadn't even happened."

The operation finally went ahead 14 days later and Norma was allowed home two weeks ago and Bill soon afterwards.

Bill said: "We are going to have a lot more freedom now Norma doesn't have to go to hospital three times a week for dialysis.

"If we hadn't gone ahead when we did soon she wouldn't have been fit enough to have a transplant."

One of their two sons, Ian Armstrong, 44, said: "I think it's remarkable that my dad would offer to donate a kidney at his age. It was also a big stroke of luck that he was a good tissue match with mum."

Rebecca Burton, the transplant nurse who looked after Norma, said: "I think it's an amazing gesture."

A spokesman from UK Transplant said: "It's a wonderful thing to give an organ to save a life. We wish Bill and Norma many more years of happily married life."

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