Change the Law for Life campaign<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0run by the newspaper.<\/p>\nMr Mahmood\u2019s life-saving operation took place three years ago but until now the source of the donor had remained a mystery.<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old suffered complete renal failure in 2008, which was followed by six years of dialysis and two failed transplant matches.<\/p>\n
Treatment left Mr Mahmood so sick that he struggled to climb even a small flight of stairs.<\/p>\n
Mr Mahmood, 56, whose twin brother\u2019s kidneys failed before he died of a heart attack, said, \u201cIt was a simple act of kindness and I owe him a debt of gratitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was quite flabbergasted.<\/p>\n
“The decision is a huge one, to give one of your body parts to someone close, and for someone to take that decision is quite phenomenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very emotional time.<\/p>\n
“I didn\u2019t want to impose so when Si\u00f4n offered I was hesitant, shocked, but he insisted.<\/p>\n
“I could never have asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Simon, 49, joked, \u201cI\u2019m fine and Khalid has come back to life, which is a mixed blessing, obviously.”<\/p>\n
The Labour MEP told how he decided suddenly over lunch in Shere Khan, a Pakistani restaurant in Birmingham\u2019s Star City complex, that he could donate one of his own kidneys.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see Khalid getting more and more sick,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe started off being a bit sick but with every month and year that passed he got more ill, and then he started to die.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s miraculous the difference it can make to the recipient and kind of miraculous the difference it doesn\u2019t make to the donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just talking to him about it over lunch at Star City.<\/p>\n
“He had been increasingly ill and looking as if he was going to die at some point.<\/p>\n
“It was then that I realised actually I could help.<\/p>\n
“I could do it instead of waiting and expecting he\u2019d receive a kidney from somebody else when that might never arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe hesitated and after a few weeks I said I\u2019d ring them if he didn\u2019t, so we sort of did it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The transplant was carried out in Birmingham\u2019s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in January 2014 with Mr Simon\u2019s kidney immediately inserted into Mr Mahmood\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
Following Jeremy Corbyn, Theresa May last week agreed to switch to a donor opt-out register in England rather than opt-in, boosting organ donations to potentially save the 500 who die annually waiting for heart, kidney and other transplants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Jeremy made his announcement and the Daily Mirror ramped up its campaign, me and Khalid thought it was the moment to do the same,\u201d said Mr Simon.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody can accuse us of doing this for political benefit and it was never about politics.<\/p>\n
“It was about friendship and helping, saving a life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has emerged that the life of prominent Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood was saved by a secret \u2018live\u2019 kidney transplant from one of the party’s European MPs, Si\u00f4n Simon. In a political world infamous for backstabbing, competitiveness and harsh brutality, the incredible act of friendship between\u00a0Perry Barr\u00a0MP\u00a0Khalid Mahmood\u00a0and West Midlands MEP Si\u00f4n Simon was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":24407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}