Hartlepool youngster in need of new kidney as dad raises awareness for Kidney Research and NHS Blood and Transplant

Five-year-old Poppy Lancaster is on the waiting list for a transplant donor after she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure when she was two.

Two years ago, a match was found and Poppy was given a kidney transplant.

But sadly it had to be removed within days following complications.

She and her family face an unknown wait to find a new donor and in the meantime Poppy has blood dialysis 10 hours a night six days a week at home.

Despite it all, dad Gavin Lancaster, 42, who works to raise awareness of kidney failure and organ donation, said she takes it all in her stride and described her as “amazing”.

He said: "She is my drive behind everything. She’s just amazing.

“To look at her day to day routine you would think she’s a normal five-year-old little girl.

“Everything she has going on I don’t know where she finds the energy.

"She keeps up with the best of them. She has loved school since she started.”

Newcastle’s RVI hospital found Poppy’s kidneys were not functioning properly in May 2019 after she and her twin sister Violet had routine food allergy tests.

She was placed on the donor waiting list in 2020 and at the start of 2021 mum Becky got a call to say a donor had been found.

Poppy underwent surgery on New Year’s Day before clots developed and it had to be removed.

A few months later she was rushed into hospital again when her dialysis central line came out.

Poppy then had a 14-month break from needing dialysis which nobody could explain.

But last May she was rushed in again and put back on it after her calcium levels were dangerously high.

In August she was place on the donor waiting list again. The average wait for a kidney transplant from a donor who has died is between two and three years.

But Gavin, who works in property management and also has an events entertainment business, is an ambassador with Kidney Research and NHS Blood and Transplant to help raise awareness, including for live organ donors.

He said: “Poppy got her first chance very quickly, but it could be years. It really is a lottery.”

Poppy is one of 114 children in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant.

Angie Scales, paediatric lead nurse at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We’re sorry to hear that Poppy’s first transplant was not successful and hope she can receive the transplant she needs soon.

“Organ donation saves lives and also provides comfort to donor families after a tragic loss. We ask that families talk together about organ donation and their decisions and make sure children are included.

“It is important to register your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register and be sure your family knows what you want. Children can also register their decision or be registered by their parents.

“Children can save lives too and there are hundreds of children in the UK right now waiting for a transplant that can change their future. Please register your decision and talk as a family.”

Find out more and register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk