A MAN held a kidney party to celebrate 20 years since he had a transplant aged just six years old.

Gregory McIntyre, 26, of Revidge Road, Blackburn, said it was important to mark the milestone because so many transplants were unsuccessful.

Mum Beverley, 47, said that the family had been amazed at how well he has done since the operation and said his condition showed the importance of organ donation.

Greg, who works as a cleaner, said: “We all had a great night.

“It’s nice to mark the anniversary because I know that not everyone is able to get on as well as I have with a donor kidney.”

Beverley, who lives in Little Harwood, said Gregory was born with hypoplastic kidneys and was very ill until the transplant in 1989 at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in Pendlebury.

She said: “At the time it was so frightening and you do not know if the kidney will be accepted.

“You certainly don’t know if it will last for years and years.

“To be able to celebrate the 20-year anniversary is wonderful.

“We had a little celebration with family and friends.

“When I look back all those years I really can’t believe that he has made it 20 years.

“He is still very healthy and there is no reason that the kidney won’t last for years and years.”

Gregory attends annual in-depth health check-ups on his kidney as well as quarterly visits to a clinic.

Beverley said she hoped that success stories like Gregory’s would encourage more people to became organ donors.

She said: “At the time in the late 1980s, Esther Rantzen led a campaign for more organ donors and I am sure that helped us.

“It is still important that more people register as donors to help people like our Gregory.”