A MAN who donated his kidney has run three half marathons in a month.

Kidney donor Paul Saker, of Burgess Hill, also plans to take on three gruelling bike rides to encourage others to donate organs. Paul, 24, said he wanted to show that being a kidney donor does not impact on your quality of life.

Paul became a donor after seeing how much his wife Dee’s life was transformed by a transplant. He was not a match for Dee, but wanted to help other patients like her regain the same quality of life.

He hopes his inspiring story, after yesterday’s World Kidney Day (March 12), will encourage other to consider giving the gift of life.

Dee found out she was suffering from kidney failure in 2014 and, in 2016, the couple were told she would need haemodialysis until a suitable donor could be found.

They chose for Dee to undertake her dialysis at home, with the remote support of the home haemo team at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

They were warned it could take up to seven years for Dee to receive a kidney from the deceased donor list, Paul said.

Paul, who works for EDF, said: “I wanted to donate a kidney, but we are different blood types, so I assumed it was not possible,”

Then Paul saw a leaflet in a clinic about the shared donor scheme, where a person who is not a perfect match can still donate a kidney to allow a loved one to receive a transplant.

Four times each year, the willing donors and their linked recipients are run through a matching programme and the donations and transplants are carefully scheduled.

He said: “I had a chat with support staff to find out about potential risks and have no regrets. I am still running and have felt no ill effects. In fact, the only evidence that I donated is a small scar. I really want to highlight that anybody can donate. Once I learnt about this scheme, I didn’t think twice.

“We were lucky that Dee received a brilliant match which worked well, she only had to wait and her body hasn’t rejected it.”

“I’ve been running for around ten years, but now have a sense of purpose and a focus to raise awareness and raise money.

“I’m doing it to prove to others that being a kidney donor doesn’t make any difference to your quality of life. I want to encourage others to step forward and consider being a donor. Having a transplant transformed Dee’s life.”

It is Dee’s two-year kidneyversary in May. Before her transplant Dee would get very tired and found the dialysis process to be stressful.

Now, she has much more energy and, although she cannot go back to work because of other restrictive health issues, it means she has a much better quality of life, and is currently cycling a mile for everyone on the kidney waiting list between her first and second kidneyversaries.

Three million people in the UK have kidney disease, yet one million of these don’t know they have it. There is no cure, and for people with kidney failure the only way to stay alive is dialysis or transplant.

Visit Paul’s fund raising page at justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-saker11