Ref.10289DEVOTED father Eddie Vincent has told how he is about to make the ultimate sacrifice and donate one of his kidneys to his chronically ill son.

Mr Vincent of Dauntsey Lock, near Chippenham, will go under the surgeon's knife later this year in a bid to ease the suffering of his 31-year-old son Robert.

Robert, of Taunton Close Chippenham, himself a father of two, was diagnosed with the debilitating illness Reflux Nephropathy last March.

The condition, which occurs when urine is directed the wrong way from the bladder and back into the kidneys, eventually causes both kidneys to fail.

"Robert had been feeling off colour for some time last year, he was really tired and listless and was finding it difficult to work his shifts as an operator at Honda in Swindon," said his father.

"Protein was showing in his urine, so the doctors thought there might be something wrong with his kidneys, but when they told us that his kidneys were packing up, it was a terrible shock."

Mr Vincent and his wife Dee, 55, said they decided to take the tests to see if they were suitable kidney donors without a second thought.

"I can't remember us actually discussing it, we just accepted that we would both have the tests automatically," said Mr Vincent.

"Robert is our son and we would have done anything we could to help him I think any parents would."

Initial tests revealed that both Eddie and Dee were suitable donors, but the couple eventually agreed that it would be Eddie who went ahead with the testing.

Dee suffers from migraines and takes tablets for high blood pressure.

"Robert was over the moon when we told him that Eddie wanted to give him one of his kidneys," said Mrs Vincent.

"His quality of life has really suffered in the last year.

"He has lost so much weight and has had to give up his passion of grass track motorcycle racing.

"He's always tired too and that has had an impact on the things he can enjoy doing with his sons Ben and Kieran and his wife Kerry."

The transplant, which is scheduled for early October, will be done under general anaesthetic and should take between two and half and five hours.

Surgeons at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, will remove one of Eddie's kidneys and place it into Robert's pelvis before connecting the blood vessels of the new kidney to the artery and vein that go to the leg.

With one healthy kidney each, both men should be fine, as a single kidney can compensate for 75 per cent of the body's need.

It will be the first time that Eddie has been in hospital. But despite that fact, he says he would do it tomorrow if he could.

"Of course I'm a bit apprehensive, it is an important operation.

"But we just want Robert to get better and at the moment we're all just biding our time until we get a date for the op," he said.

Thames Water support co-ordinator, Eddie added: "I've had to tell some people at work about it, as I'll have to have three months off to recuperate after the op, and most people have said that it is a wonderful thing to do."

With four of the six necessary donor tests now under his belt, Eddie has only a CT scan and an angiogram on August 13, before he is given the all-clear as a donor.

"It is going to be tough for all of us," he said.

"Robert's mum and Kerry and the children will be scared and when the operation is over, I should be okay within a week.

"But it will be a testing time to see whether Robert's body rejects the kidney I give him."

"I will also have to take quite a lot of tablets afterwards to fight off infections," added Robert.

"But we all just want to get it over and done with so we can get back to living properly."

Robert also explained that he and his wife Kerry are also desperately hoping that the illness has not been passed on to either of their young sons.

"There is a danger that it can be hereditary and that one of the boys will eventually have problems with their kidneys," he said.

"Ben, who is 11 has had some minor problems, but so far tests haven't shown anything too bad to worry about, we just have to wait and see how they both get on,

"But I feel terrible that if it comes to it, I will not be able to donate a kidney to either of my sons, like my Dad is doing, although I know there will be no shortage of other donors within the family."

Both Eddie and Robert are hoping to get a date for their operation by the end of the summer.

"My dad and I will go into hospital together, which will be strange, but I'm just very thankful to him," said Robert.

"It's a fantastic thing my dad is doing for me and we're just hoping it's all worth it."

dwaite@newswilts.co.uk