Published: Thursday, 5th June, 2008 08:00
Daughter, 11, thanks dad for gift of life
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FOR much of her young life, 11-year-old Maren Kelly was unable to enjoy things that other children take for granted.
One of her kidneys had to be removed at the age of three and the other deteriorated to such an extent that sports and physical activities, including her passion for swimming, were strictly off-limits to the King’s Meadow Primary School pupil.
That was until selfless dad Alex Black gave her the precious gift of life by donating one of his own kidneys.
Her subsequent transformation and its inspirational effect on others led to her being named, as reported in the Courier last week, this year’s winner of the John Lockhart Trophy for Young Achievers.
Now Maren, of Haddington’s Caponflat Crescent, wants other families to draw strength from her story – and gave an emotional thanks to her “special” dad.
She said this week: “It is very humbling to win this award. I just hope that, for any other families in a similar position, it will prove that there can be light at the end of the tunnel, that eventually things will change for the better.
“It feels great to be able to go to school for the whole day and swim again at my local pool.
“The best thing of all is not feeling sick all the time and for that I must thank my dad.
“I really love my dad. I feel so special to have a dad like him.”
The young achiever award, administered by Haddington and District Community Council, recognises the positive impact – in adversity – by young people on their families and communities.
Family friends Morag Wallace and Diane Ronaldson, also from Caponflat Crescent, nominated Maren after seeing her beat the odds.
Two years ago, as the need for a transplant became pressing, Maren’s dad as well as her mum Maren Rose Kelly, 47, and aunt Heidi-Louise Kelly, 34, were all screened to test donor compatibility and dad was declared the best match. A further agonising year of tests followed before specialists gave the all clear to operate.
Mum Maren Rose, a part-time social work department employee, said:
“The change in Maren’s life since she had the kidney transplant has been quite astonishing. Beforehand, she could not manage more than half a day in school at a time. She used to have to study at home with extra homework arranged through the teachers at King’s Meadow.
“She was always feeling cold and tired because of the toxins in her kidney, and this also slowed down her rate of growth. Now she can go swimming again and play with her friends as any other young girl would do.
“It’s a year down the line from the transplant and so far so good.
“We are still taking things one day at a time as we don’t know how long this kidney will last.”
Maren’s engineer father Alex modestly declined to discuss his involvement in her recovery, but her mum said: “It was not a difficult decision for him to take at all. He would have given both his kidneys if it had meant saving her life.
“This was a life or death situation – Maren was seriously ill.”
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Honoured by Her Majesty