Will Stone is condemned to a life on dialysis, unless there is urgent Government action. He gave his personal account of his experiences and views on organ transplants.

LEADING authorities on Xeno-transplantation attended a conference at the University of Central Lancashire last Friday to discuss the ethics of transplanting animal organs into humans.

I went along as a dialysis patient with one failed human transplant behind me. I wanted to know what developments there had been and how groups like the BMA and Animal Aid felt about the idea of animal transplants.

For me it is a very difficult area, because on the one hand I need a healthy kidney, but I don't want to be pushed into taking something that hasn't been fully researched.

One of the major problems that has brought the idea of transplanting pig organs into humans, is that there is a complete lack of human donors due to a general ignorance of what donors can do.

I think that it is a lot to do with the fact that you only help after you are dead and people are a little squeamish.

I feel there needs to be greater pressure put on the government to change the system to an opt-out scheme where you are registered from birth and have to remove yourself if you refuse to donate after your death. Where this has been practised (in many of the Scandanavian countries) it has increased the number of transplants triple fold.

I know that whether I have a transplant or not I shall have to rely on drugs treatment to keep me alive for the rest of my life. If I continue on??? dialysis I could survive another 25 to 30 years. After that I don't know.

One possibility is that by genetically engineering organs either through animals or even cloning that dependence on drugs would be a thing of the past. This is one area that human transplants could never avoid.

We all need a genetic key, and when an imbalance occurs (through transplanting a foreign organ into the body) the host body tries to lock the transported organ out. Without drugs this imbalance causes rejection, something in itself which can be dangerous.

They will probably never be able to clone kidneys because they are far too complicated, so it is important to find a way of using organs that are in perfect condition that do not reject violently.

But - and this is said with some severity - there are problems not only with the actual concept but with the financial trappings behind it.

Allegedly, the company behind animal transplants is now owned by the company that manufactures anti-rejection drugs. Immutran, allegedly, also pay large retainers to the medical researchers, all based at Cambridge, and to the politicians and civil servants who are involved with the governments decision to agree to full testing. Andrew Taylor, the Director of Animal Aid who made these allegations, feels that there is no division between the researchers and the politicians and the company that hopes to market the animal transplant.

This information has made my life a little uneasy, but only by the fact that I don't feel that money should be an issue. Lives should come first. If there is a chance that a kidney can be made to match my genetic requirements so that it would never reject I would have to take that option, without a doubt.

The first and most important thing is to improve dialysis facilities and make the public more aware of the need to carry a donor card and to tell their relatives what their wishes are.

This needs to be done now because thousands are dying for no need, and many more are enduring long term painful treatment with no way out.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO CARRY A DONOR CARD

WHEN I first heard about animal transplants, I felt kind of lifted. It meant a possible way out.

I had just rejected my fathers kidney and had spent over six weeks in Manchester Royal Infirmary becoming more and more despondent. I felt condemned to a life-time of dialysis and not even the doctors knew how long I could survive with dialysis treatment. They only have 20 to 30 years of experience since the first patient was dialysed in the 1960's.

Xeno-transplantation (animal transplantation) could mean having a kidney that was matched to my genetic make-up. This would mean no rejection. It could mean no dependency on drugs. It could mean total freedom and a completely normal life. I do have worries. I don't like to think of companies making money out of peoples suffering and Animal Aid alleges that Immutran, who are funding the concept, are financing the research, the politicians, and the drug companies, which hardly makes it credible.

But if everyone carried a card and let their relatives know then the number of human transplants would increase dramatically, and that could be done today.

If you feel that you might want to donate organs after your death, then turn to the person next to you and ask them. Tell them about the thousands of people being left to die because they don't carry a card.

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