A mum is furious over hospital red tape which has left her little boy's life hanging in the balance.
Fifteen strangers have offered to donate a kidney to Nicola Pietrzyk's seriously ill son, Matthew, following an appeal on Facebook.
They join five family friends who have also come forward as potential donors.
However, Nicola fears tests on the family friends to see if they are a match for the seven-year-old will be delayed – and the strangers might not be tested at all – because of complex and confusing rules about donation.
The 33-year-old said doctors at Birmingham Children's Hospital, where Matthew receives treatment, had told her only one family friend could be tested at a time – a process which would take months. She said doctors had also told her the hospital did not test strangers who wanted to be organ donors for named recipients.
"It's brilliant that people have come forward," said Nicola, of Glenfield. "I'm overwhelmed at the messages I've received. But we are getting such complicated mixed messages about the whole thing and, while it all drags on, Matthew is at the centre of it, still waiting for a kidney.
"I don't see why they have to test family friends one at a time. Surely, when they look at Matthew, his circumstances of how long he has waited, they can see it makes sense to test people all at once.
"As for not testing strangers, it just doesn't make sense."
The Leicester Mercury asked Birmingham Children's Hospital to clarify its position on family friend and stranger donation and to confirm whether the information given to Nicola was correct hospital policy.
The hospital referred the Mercury to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB).
The trust did not respond to the Mercury's specific questions, but said in a statement: "Live donors referred to UHB will be carefully assessed and dealt with in accordance with the Human Tissue Authority and British Transplant Society Guidance.
"Within this legal and professional oversight, UHB will continue to facilitate donation for the benefit of our patients."
The Mercury asked for further clarification, but none had been received at the time of publication. A spokesman for The Human Tissue Authority said: "Clinical decisions are for the clinical transplant team to make."
It referred the Mercury to its guidelines, which states that potential donors should go to their local hospitals to be accessed as a potential donor.
However, Nicola said people who wanted to donate a kidney to Matthew had tried to do that already, but had been turned away.
She said some GPs had told potential donors they would have to go to the transplant unit at Birmingham to be tested. "My brother only wanted a blood type test to see if he could help and it took him four visits to his GP," said Nicola. "Our brother-in-law went to his GP and was told to go to Birmingham. Who is right?"
Meanwhile, Matthew, who was born with a rare genetic disorder which has damaged his kidneys, remains in desperate need of a transplant. He had one kidney removed in October 2007, to prepare him to receive a donor organ from his mum. The transplant took place in 2008, but failed immediately. Matthew was put on the national kidney transplant waiting list, and his second kidney was removed to help ease his condition and prepare him for a potential second donor.
While he waits for a donor, Matthew endures 12-hour daily dialysis sessions and can only drink 850ml of liquid a day.
City and county MPs have joined Nicola's fight for the rules to be clarified. Leicester West MP Liz Kendall and Charnwood MP Stephen Dorrell have written to the Department of Health. Labour's Ms Kendall, said: "We always encourage people to come forward as donors but here, they are being put off by the fact they can't all be tested at once.
"With regard to the strangers who have come forward, it is not clear what the rules are."
Conservative member Mr Dorrell said: "This is a very difficult situation from the family's point of view. I have referred the case to the department to review it and asked for their view on what should be done."
b>To watch Matthew and Jack on TV - click here.
