A TRANSPLANT hero has defied the odds by battling through his third kidney operation in a 30-year fight for life.

Brian Wilson, of Hilton Road, Darwen, is recovering from his latest transplant operation after an agonising eight-year wait for a donor.

Brian, 41, has astonished his family with his ability to bounce back from three transplant operations dating back to the 1970s.

And medical experts today hailed him a special case, as only one of a handful in the UK who receive and survive a third transplant.

His mum Edna, 82, said: "I'm so proud of him. He's a real fighter and he's suffered a lot. We're just hoping that this time his body accepts the kidney and he can get on with his life."

In the last six months, there were two crushing moments when operations were called off at the last minute because the replacement organs were found to be damaged.

Edna, of Birch Hall Avenue, said: "You do start to despair -- we thought he was never going to get a kidney."

The good news they were waiting for came at the end of April this year when police woke Edna at 2am as they tried to contact Brian to take him Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Brian said: "When I saw the police I wondered what was going on but when I found out about the kidney I was so happy and shocked I nearly fell over."

By 7.30pm that day, he was out of theatre after a six-hour operation and last month he left hospital to convalesce. He said: "After all the dialysis I've had, my body should be able to take this kidney better than before. We're hoping it will last for 20 or 30 years."

Brian had his first transplant in 1976, aged 14, after doctors discovered both kidneys were failing.

Two of Brian's seven brothers, Philip and Kenneth, leapt at the opportunity to be a donor but Kenneth was chosen as the best match.

For six years, the kidney worked perfectly and Brian worked as a pallet maker for two years and took up swimming. But a setback came when he had headaches, nagging pains and dizzy spells. The kidney had to be removed and for six months his lifeline was a kidney machine before another donor, a 12-year-old boy who had died in a road accident in Belfast, was found.

The operation, again at Manchester Royal Infirmary, was another success and the kidney worked well for 12 years until problems developed in 1995.

Renal consultant Dr John Anderton of Royal Preston Hospital, said: "Of all kidney transplants performed, probably only one or two per cent are on people receiving their third organ.

"Every year nationally, only around one third of the 5,000 people on the waiting list get an operation in the first place.

"When your body rejects one kidney the chance of getting another suitable kidney is greatly reduced for a number of complicated medical reasons. Some people never get one and this is very rare."

Donor information is on the NHS Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400.