Jones brother donates kidney to save siblings life.

Barrie Jones’ brother, David Jones, 51, became a kidney transplant donor this autumn in order to help brother overcome his kidney failure.

When Barrie from Winchester was in his 20s, he started taking a cocktail of blood pressure tablets to be able to control the cysts that were found around his kidneys. He carried on with his life until his 40s when the cysts started growing.

For the Jones family, it all started in 1989 when his mom was diagnosed with the same polycystic kidney disease. Barrie said to Winol: “Our mom died four years after having a transplant for the same condition that wasn’t a great match 13 years ago, this made my brother know what I was possibly facing.”

Last Summer Barrie has been told that for a long period of time his kidneys have been getting weaker and were about to fail. As a solution, he was given an option to go on dialysis for the rest of his life.

But there was another option that gave the option to avoid dialysis four times a week for three hours he needed a kidney transplant.

“From the time I was referred to the transplant team 3 years ago, he has been involved from day 1 offering to be tested. We have been closer over those three years as brothers.”

But the challenges did not end there Barrie’s kidney had to be removed in March but because of the pandemic, the process was delayed till May. During this time transplant program was stopped because Covid-19 had killed 4 transplant patients and another one had lost his new kidney.

Barrie also said to Winol: “Hospital adapted a complete ward to make it COVID-19 safe and the transplant program reopened in late September, so far they have completed 13 transplants and we all meet for our weekly check-ups .”

After a long process of testing David Jones was able to become a living donor. The operation that took place on the 3^rd of November in Portsmouth Queen Alexandra hospital was a success.

After this difficult time in his life, Barrie is passionate to raise awareness about this subject that is little known about.