DM1ST(^18) DAILY MIRROR FRIDAY 06.09.
MENINGITIS Lewis Hilton
Six lives are
saved after
teen’s death
THE parents of a teenager
who died from meningitis
have spoken of their pride
after he saved six lives,
including a baby, – through
organ donation.
Lewis Hilton, 19, died in
January 2018. Just days
before he had told his mum
he wanted to be on the
organ donor register.
One kidney went to a
woman in her 20s, and the
other kidney and his
pancreas to a man in his
50s. Lewis’s heart saved a
man in his 50s, his lungs
helped a woman in her 30s,
and parts of his liver were
donated to a woman in her
50s and a baby.
Lewis’s grieving mum
Tracy Hilton, from Halifax,
West Yorks, said: “[This] has
helped us try to make sense
of the senseless.”
BY LUCY THORNTON
But Naomi’s rare tissue type
and a severe shortage of
black organ donors meant
she waited almost 14 years.
In that time she had 14
major operations, 23 minor
surgeries and spent three days
a week hooked up to a dialysis
machine. Primrose says: “All those years
on dialysis left Mum so weak. It tore her
doctors said if it had happened
while I was sleeping, I would
have died. I have lost most of
my family to kidney disease.
“My mother died when she
was 40, my niece was 31. Five
of my six brothers died young.”
Naomi had emergency surgery
and started dialysis. On average, patients
wait three years for a kidney transplant.
rose suffered from polycystic
kidney disease which causes
extreme pain and eventually
leads to the organs failing.
Recalling the moment her
kidneys ruptured, Naomi, 74,
said: “There was no warning.
Blood suddenly started
flowing down my nose. It
was very frightening. The
EXCLUSIVE
BY WARREN MANGER
P
rimrose Granville stood in the
shower, her tears hidden by the
cascade of warm water as the
devastating news sank in. Her
kidneys were failing.
At first she could not bear to tell her
family. She had already watched mum
Naomi and sister Ingrid suffer through a
combined 23 years of dialysis before they
received life-saving transplants.
Other relatives were not so lucky.
Primrose, 50, had lost at least five of her
family, including her gran, to the same
hereditary kidney disease.
She says: “I didn’t want my family to
see me struggling and worry after
everything they had been through.
“I spent so much time with my mother
on dialysis, watching her deteriorate.
“She was so sick I prepared myself to
bury her three times. I was terrified of
going through that myself.”
Against the odds, Primrose waited just
six months for a suitable kidney. Her
transplant last year was days before she
was due to start dialysis.
Her mum is still going
strong 15 years after her
transplant. Ingrid has been
free from dialysis for the four
years since her surgery.
Primrose, a radio
presenter from Bristol, said:
“It is a miracle we have all
had transplants and are still
here. We think about our
donors every day.”
Naomi, Ingrid and Prim-
Mum lost 5 loved ones
to kidney disease but
‘miracle’ transplants
saved her & daughters
FAMILIES REMEMBER TRAGEDIES &
If it had
happened
while I was
asleep, I’d
have died
NAOMI ON THE MOMENT
HER KIDNEYS RUPTURED
Primrose’s son has
the kidney disease
ADAM
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KEIR
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FOR LI
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FOR LI
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