An incredibly selfless Cambusnethan man has given the greatest gift of all to a stranger this Christmas.
Grant McKee, from Cambusnethan, has completely changed the future of someone he has never met, by donating one of his kidneys.
The 56-year-old is recovering at home in Lewis Avenue following surgery earlier this month.
“Someone is going to have a Christmas that they never expected and can celebrate with their family,” said Grant.
The brave altruistic donor had initially been scheduled to go through the surgical operation in March this year but the emergence of Covid-19 meant it was postponed until December.
An altruistic donor has no intended recipient for their organ but instead just wants to help someone in need.
Grant explained: “I had seen something about it years and years ago, that someone could do this, and I was totally taken aback with it. And after that I saw bits online about it.
“I’m a blood donor and at the start of last year I received an email about altruistic transplants with a live donor.
“I contacted them and they sent me out the forms, they lay there for a couple of weeks and then I filled them in and sent them, and took it from there.
“I had never heard or known anyone with problems with their kidneys until I looked into doing this. Then I met someone who had a transplant from his dad, he told me that there were people getting dialysis for 14 years waiting on a match. Then I met other people who had family members who had to have transplants.
“Any operation is a gamble but I didn’t have any worries at all. Crossing the road is a gamble.
“I went through the operation on December 7 and was back home two days later. I felt great and didn’t have any pain.
“The only way I’ll find out the recipient is if they write a letter to me.”
Not only did Grant have to prepare himself psychologically, he had to get into good physical shape and lose weight before the op. He managed to shed over a quarter of his body weight in preparation for the surgery in March.
Grant brought his weight down from 19-and-a-half stones to 14 stones, and then had to keep it off as he waited for a new date for the procedure.
Grant, who lives alone, isn’t letting the surgery keep him down and has already been getting out and about walking.
“I’ve been out walking and I did four miles today, and I did three yesterday. I walked into Wishaw and back.
“Losing the weight has been good for my own health and my work Lightbody’s (Finsbury Food Group) in Hamilton have been brilliant through this as well and supported me all the way. They gave me a payment on top of my sick pay to help me out. Things like that you just don’t expect.”
The Good Samaritan’s act of kindness was brought to our attention to us by family friend Kristen Dearie from Shotts.
She said: “Grant is an extraordinary person but a quiet person, who doesn’t shout about it. It’s amazing what he has done, and he had to do quite a lot to achieve it.
“There were a lot of trips to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Then he had to lose the weight, then it was cancelled, so he had to maintain the weight loss, then self-isolate for two weeks before the operation. He had to really, really want to do it. What a Christmas gift to give to someone - the gift of life!”
