A chat at the school gates with a fellow dad saved Mark Wilson’s life.
Mark, 35, was seriously ill with kidney disease but feared time was running out as he waited for a donor.
He opened up to Andy McCall, 32, as they waited for their daughters.
In an act of incredible selflessness, Andy offered to see if he was a match.
Blood and tissue tests confirmed he was and the transplant went ahead on Valentine’s Day this year.
Mark said: “When Andy offered, I couldn’t believe it. He was pretty much a complete stranger.
“When my family heard he was a match, we burst into tears. Even the kidney co-ordinator was crying.
“It felt like our paths meant to cross. He knows I’ll never be able to repay him. He has saved my life.”
Andy said: “Helping Mark was a no-brainer.
“I had the chance to shape someone else’s life. There’s no better feeling.”
Now the two fitness fans, who both have two young children, are the best of friends.
A year ago Mark’s world came crashing down as he and wife Victoria, 32, a marketing executive, from Gourock, near Glasgow, were planning a holiday with children, Emilie, five, and one-year-old Lucas.
A routine check through his work at an Audi bodyshop found his blood pressure was up almost double.
Mark, who works out three times a week, looked so healthy that medics initially thought there was something wrong with their kit.
“They said, ‘There must be something wrong with the readings because you shouldn’t be able to stand’,” he recalled.
But tests at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital showed he had 12 per cent kidney function. He was diagnosed with stage five kidney disease and told he needed a transplant.
By August, his kidney function had declined to just seven per cent and he was told he would need to begin peritoneal dialysis, which uses the lining of the abdomen to filter the blood.
He had a tube fitted in his stomach so he could carry out the treatment himself four times a day.
Mark recalled: “Dialysis meant I couldn’t work anymore, and I actually started to feel ill for the first time.
“I had no energy and could no longer play with the children for long, or go to the gym.”
Wife Victoria nicknamed him “the healthiest looking sick guy”.
She explained: “When he was diagnosed, people kept saying to him ‘you don’t look sick’ or ‘for someone so ill you look great’ so I said one day he was the healthiest looking sick guy I’d ever seen and then the name stuck.”
One day Mark got chatting to Andy, a college apprentice co-ordinator from Greenock, at the school gates as they collected their daughters from nursery.
Struck by the similarities between the young families, Andy thought about what it would be like if his life was turned upside down.
Meanwhile, Mark’s mum and wife offered a kidney but they were not perfect matches.
With Mark in desperate need of a donor, Victoria decided to run a 10km race to raise money for Kidney Research UK.
She uploaded a post explaining her husband’s situation to Facebook, which was spotted by Andy.
Moved by what he read, Andy – father of Lily, five, and Lewis, two, with his radiographer wife Laura – offered to help.
“It just felt like it could so easily be me,” he said. “The thought that my life could be taken away from me in an instant really hit home.
“I said to Laura, ‘Our families are so similar, we are the same age, with kids the same age, and Mark and I are both into our fitness’.”
The four-hour transplant operation took place with both dads side by side in
hospital beds.
Andy said: “Before we went in, we had our picture taken and wished one another other good luck.”
Andy was able to be by Mark’s bedside as he came round from surgery.
“I felt proud that I’d been given the opportunity to help change his life and his family’s life. It was an emotional moment,” said Andy.
“I told him he was looking really good and we gave each other a high five.”
Within 24 hours of the transplant, Mark’s kidney function went from six to 78.9 per cent.
Andy stayed in hospital for three days, during which time he was a frequent visitor to Mark’s room. Mark was discharged after a week and both families got together the following night to toast his health with champagne.
After taking a couple of months off work to recover, keen runner Andy is back to full health and was even able to run again just over a week after the operation.
Mark is feeling “better than ever”.
Victoria said: “After the operation, Mark immediately looked better, his blue eyes had started shining again and after a few days he was back on his feet, gradually building up strength and taking gentle exercise.”
Having forged a lifelong friendship, the men have been out for dinner and drinks, as well as taking their children to soft play together.
Mark said: “We’re having to isolate for now because of Covid-19 but we’ve been keeping each other entertained over WhatsApp.
“We’re in touch most days. And now I’ve got a runner’s kidney, maybe I’ll join him for a jog.
“As well as getting a new kidney, I’ve got a new friendship. It’s hard to put into words how much it means.”
Later this year, Andy and Laura will raise money for Kidney Research UK by running the Edinburgh 10k, while Victoria will do a sponsored sky-dive in May.
Victoria, who has raised £2,100 for the charity by doing the Great Scottish Run, added: “Until you don’t have your health anymore, you don’t realise what it means to not have it.
“The fact that someone has given Mark his health back, especially someone he didn’t know, makes it so much more special. It means so much to see there are good people in this world.
“It feels like we’ve won the lottery.”
