A DESPERATE mother is forgoing the usual new year wishes to ask for something more important than anything – the chance to see her two daughters grow up.

Sally-Anne Grainger has made a heartfelt plea to readers of your Worcester News in a bid to find a living kidney donor, after running out of all other options.

Miss Grainger, who has cystic fibrosis, has already undergone a double lung transplant, in March 2009, which had given her a new lease of life.

But all the medication she had to take for the transplant put a strain on her kidneys and has led to renal failure.

Battling anaemia, the 33-year-old said she is now “just existing” and has to have dialysis three times a week.

Consultants have said her kidney is only expected to work for another five years, but that she faces being on the donor waiting list for five to six years unless a willing live donor can be found.

All of her friends and family have been ruled out for health reasons and hopes of a donation from her friend Jonathan Povey were dashed at the eleventh hour when complications were discovered. 

The student, from Swallowfields, Warndon Villages, said her only hope now was too reach out to strangers and hope someone would be willing to donate.

Miss Grainger, mum to Kelsey, 14, and Megan, nine, said: “If I don’t get a kidney I will die sooner rather than later. 

“I didn’t want to ask strangers for help but Jonathan persuaded me because he was so upset he couldn’t donate. Now, I am running out of options.

"I want to see my girls grow up and be a mum to them as long as I can for them.”

Donors will need to have the same blood group, O positive, and be fit and healthy.

A medical, surgical and psychological assessment to make sure they are fit and healthy would also be required.

The operation will take about two hours and the recovery will vary from between two to 12 weeks depending on surgery and the individual’s recovery.

Miss Grainger, who is under the care of Birmingham Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said: “It will be really overwhelming if someone actually did come forward and I will be very, very grateful to be able to spend more time with my children.”

“It would be great to be able to live rather than just exist and be with them.”

She explained she had been getting more breathless and sleeping for up to 14 hours a day.

The tiredness and dialysis appointments were also impacting on her creative reading and screen writing studies at the University of Worcester and she would miss most of her daughter’s 10th birthday as she is due to have dialysis.

“It is affecting my whole life.

"When I am walking I have to stop quite a few times because I am out of breath. My heart’s working harder because it is having to do more to cope with the lungs.

“My consultant told me to find a live donor because when I go into proper renal failure the operation is going to be harder because of the impact it will have on my lungs.

“I can’t excrete as much fluid anymore so a lot of fluid goes on the lungs and I notice that I get more breathless and I can’t do as much as I did before.

“Having this transplant would absolutely change my life.

"I am missing out all the time on everything my girls are doing. I’ve always been a hands-on mum but I feel like I am just existing again.”

Anyone who thinks they could help should click here to email Catherine Phillips at cp@worcesternews.co.uk.