'Don't take gift of life to heaven with you'

8:56am Monday 24th March 2008

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By Emma Streatfield »

ALL David Armitage knows about the person who saved his life is they were 18 years old and from Liverpool.

Thirty-one years later, the first person in Swindon to receive a successful kidney transplant says he is walking proof of just how precious the gift of life can be.

David, 71, and his wife Wendy, 69, of Blakeney Avenue, Nythe, have a slogan they feel is appropriate: "Do not take your organs to heaven - heaven needs them here."

David said until he had his transplant he had not appreciated how his condition had restricted his life.

"You're free, you can decide what you want to do instead of being stuck three times a week to a machine," he said.

Wendy added: "The children got their dad back.

"David's seen his children and grandchildren grow up - it's unbelievable what the gift of life gives the whole family."

During the 1980s and 1990s the couple were famous in the Advertiser for their instrumental role in the campaign for a dialysis unit in Swindon.

Wendy said: "Our friends started calling it the Armitage Advertiser."

After being diagnosed with chronic renal failure in 1972, David was on home dialysis for three years.

He joined the transplant programme as number 47 and became the first Swindon man to receive a successful transplant in 1976.

He said: "You feel brilliant immediately - absolutely brilliant."

Having always been a keen sportsman he was able to start coaching mini rugby to children.

For David it was the simple things, like going to the toilet, that were transformed.

He said: "I hadn't been going to the toilet properly for three years - when I came home the children had had a notice on the toilet door saying welcome back daddy!"

During those early times transplants were risky but David explained that compared with dialysis five hours three times a weeks, it was worth the risk.

He said: "You have been pumping your blood around a machine for four or five hours - it's like giving blood for four hours - it was really quite draining."

Now they both support the Advertiser's new Gift of Life drive whole-heartedly.

David said: "You are donating a life to somebody - it's like a living will, something everybody should do."

• Do you have a transplant or donation story to tell?

Are you, or a member of your family, waiting for an organ to be donated?

Perhaps you give blood and have done for years - or have been touched by someone's story and want to donate blood for the first time.

The Advertiser is running a drive called The Gift of Life - aimed at getting more people to donate organs and blood to save more lives.

And whatever your story we want to hear from you. Please contact the newsdesk on 01793 501802 or email estreatfield@swindonadvertiser.co.uk.