• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Two selfless brothers give gift of life to others – after BOTH donating kidneys to people they’ve never met

by
January 20, 2016
in News
0
Two selfless brothers give gift of life to others – after BOTH donating kidneys to people they’ve never met

Stefan Burke and Kevin Burke both brothers from Manchester donated their kidneys (SWNS Group)

0
SHARES
20
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Two selfless brothers have given the gift of life to others – after they BOTH donated kidneys to people they’ve never met.

Stefan Burke and Kevin Burke both brothers from Manchester donated their kidneys (SWNS Group)
Stefan Burke and Kevin Burke both brothers from Manchester donated their kidneys (SWNS Group)

Siblings Stefan, 29, and Kevin Burke, 27, went through major operations after realising they could help sufferers who desperately needed a new organ.

Amazingly Kevin decided to give a kidney after spotting a post on social media site Reddit.

But it was when their concerned dad called older brother Stefan in to talk Kevin out of it, that he was instead roped into the unusual good deed.

Kevin said: “I would really like to be able to donate more money to charity but I don’t have enough money so instead I decided to give in another way.

“I was really taken in when I read about live kidney donating chains. I knew immediately I wanted to be involved.

“On researching the subject it turned out there were loads of reasons to go ahead with it, and none to not.”

Older brother Stefan, who works with Kevin at a company that creates websites for bouncy castle companies, said: “My dad was worried that Kevin would be undergoing an unnecessary operation and that he didn’t know who he was giving a kidney to – it could be a bad person.

“So when I rang Kevin to talk to him about Dad’s concerns he ended up talking me into it because it seemed such a great idea. And of course I could not be outdone by my younger brother.”

The brothers, who are best mates and “party buddies”, were surprised to read that only 100 kidneys a year are given through altruistic donation, yet 300 people die each year waiting for a kidney.

There are currently 5,600 people are on the NHS waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Stefan said: “The reality is that you can live perfectly fine on one kidney. So all the while you’ve got some people living a rotten life of pain and dialysis because they don’t have one.

“We’ve got to realise how lucky we are. We have got a really good deal so it was great to be in a position to help somebody else.”

The brothers were raised in a caring household in Manchester, with nurse mum Lorraine Butterworth, 54, and retired support worker dad, Kiaran Burke (CORR), 62.

Although he’s not done anything on this scale before, Stefan believes he does his bit for society as he is a vegan and gives money to charity. Kevin is a vegetarian.

Kevin said: “Although I am registered as an organ donor, but it could be that I die in circumstances where they can’t take my organs, this way I am giving while I’m alive.”
RPY_KIDNEY_10Stefan said: “Once you decide you want to donate there are a number of rigorous tests to go through to make sure you’re healthy enough.”

They started the ball rolling in August last year before tests were carried out.

When they were given a clean bill of health they then had to sort time out with work.

They both work for the same company so they had to stagger their operations. Each operation requires six weeks recovery time.

Luckily the government covers a person’s wages while you are off work sick after being a living kidney donor.

These operations only became legal in 2007, until then it was illegal to donate to someone you didn’t know.

Kevin had his operation on October 21 and Stefan had his on December 8.

Stefan is still laid up recovering in the camper van that he calls home.

Stefan said: “I decided to take my time off at Christmas when it would be fairly quiet. I imagined I might be at home doing the odd jobs and having a nice time off over Christmas, but it’s not quite like that.

“I do feel like a 70-year-old. I am recovering from major surgery after all. I really do feel quite ill.

“I am still getting all the care and attention, even though I decided to put myself in this position.

“My girlfriend is looking after me and my parents were there as I was having the operation.”

The operation to remove a kidney is a complex one where surgeons have to perform intricate surgery to take out a tightly packed organ.

But for the recipient it is fairly easy, as they can put the kidney in the body where it fits.

A person receiving a kidney will also feel much better immediately.

So far, neither Kevin or Stefan know who received their kidneys.

(L - R) Stefan Burke & Kevin Burke in hospital (SWNS Group)
(L – R) Stefan Burke & Kevin Burke in hospital (SWNS Group)

Stefan said: “There was a woman in the local paper who said she’d got her kidney through an altruistic donor and I suspect I might be her donor, but you can’t find out for sure unless you go through the proper channels.

“I hope to get in touch with my recipient as it would be nice to know who I have helped.”

And as for their dad, he finally came round to their way of thinking after doing his own research.

Stefan said: “Dad is now really proud of us.”

The brothers got involved in the scheme through website www.giveakidney.org and donated a kidney to something called the paired/pooled donation scheme.

The paired/pool scheme involves four or more people, made up of two or more “couples.”

One person in each couple is waiting for a kidney transplant, and the other wants to give a kidney to them but is not a good enough match to them (perhaps their blood type is different or their tissue type does not match).

He or she therefore volunteers to give a kidney to a member of a couple in a similar situation, in return for a kidney for his or her partner. Essentially the kidneys are ‘swapped’ to a recipient who matches each donor.

The “paired” scheme involves two “couples”, and the “pooled” scheme involves more than two couples.

If an altruistic donor offers to donate his or her kidney to such a scheme, it can ‘trigger’ in an altruistic donor chain with two or three people receiving a kidney, who may not otherwise find a suitable transplant.

Kevin, who is back to full health after his operation, said: “They say with charity you should give until it hurts – and that’s what we did.

“I’m not perfect, I’m still concerned with partying and all those things you’d expect from a guy of my age, but I’m also concerned about doing the right thing morally, and leaving this planet in a better state than I found it in.”

For more information visit www.giveakidney.org

Previous Post

Gypsumtools Ltd Expand Range to Include GT3 Mid weight All Purpose Joint Cement

Next Post

98-year-old grandmother’s dying wish was to travel to her funeral in a yellow hearse – so family gave her “lovely jubbly” send off in a Reliant Robin

Next Post

98-year-old grandmother's dying wish was to travel to her funeral in a yellow hearse - so family gave her "lovely jubbly" send off in a Reliant Robin

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 116 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 174k Subscribers
  • 23.6k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

July 29, 2022
How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

July 28, 2022

Recent News

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

July 29, 2022
How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

July 28, 2022
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.