World Kidney Day: 10-year-old boy with no kidneys waits 9 years for donor organs

Around 7,000 people are currently on the NHS organ transplant waiting list

10-year-old Matthew Pietrzyk, who has been on the UK transplant waiting list for nine years waiting for a life-saving transplant. (NHS/PA Wire)

The mother of a child who has no kidneys has spoken of her son’s 9-year wait for a life-saving transplant, and called on people to join the organ donor register.

10-year-old Matthew Pietrzyk is constantly connected to a dialysis machine because he does not have either of his kidneys. His condition means he must take 18 tablets a day in order to stay alive.

He is one of 65 children waiting for a new kidney in the UK, according to figures released by NHS Blood and Transplant to mark World Kidney Day.

Over 900 children have been on the waiting list for a new kidney in the last decade. On average, under-18s wait for around 316 days to receive a deceased donor kidney transplant.

Overall, patients waiting for kidneys make up the majority of cases on the UK Transplant list. Some 22 million people in the UK are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register. Each person can save or transform up to 9 or more lives, according to the NHS.

The 10-year-old from Glenfield in Leicestershire was diagnosed with a congenital syndrome when he was a baby, which caused his kidneys to stop functioning correctly.

His mother Nicola Pietrzyk donated her kidney to him when he was a one-year-old, but it was removed due to complications.

Mrs Pietrzyk said hat the family is “incredibly proud” of Matthew, whom she says “copes so well.”

“His life at the moment is so much about medicines and machines, diet restrictions and fluid restrictions.

“We try to keep life as normal as possible but there are times when it can be very difficult because he's just not free to do the things his friends and brothers can.”

She added that her son is “absolutely mad about football” but cannot play because of his condition.

"A transplant would change Matthew's life and it would change life for our family. But it's not just about us, there are thousands of people who need a transplant and are going through what we are."

She went on to call organ donation an “amazing gift” and urged people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Sally Johnson, NHS Blood and Transplant's director of organ donation and transplantation, said: "With dozens of children, as well as thousands of adults, in desperate need of a kidney transplant, and many others desperately waiting for other organs too, we need people to tell their loved ones they want to be an organ donor and record their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register."

Mrs Pietrzyk’s call comes after a designer wrote a powerful letter to the child that will receive his late 11-year-old brother’s heart.

Writing on Medium, Jason Longhurst told of how his brother Eric was hit by a truck when crossing the street, and later died.

He wrote: “It’s [donating is heart] what he would have wanted, being the person that he was, and if you are the lucky child who gets his heart, you should know what you can expect.”

"We thank you [the recipient], because his heart beats inside of you. Because of you, a piece of him keeps on living.”