Donating kidney to daughter a ‘no-brainer’, says Derby dad

Walker said Noa-Rae was a healthy ankle biter until he noticed her face becoming swollen at the age of two.

“It all started when she was quite young,” he said.

“She would wake up with a swollen face that would last for hours.

“We took her to the doctors and they originally thought she had a skin or eye problem, but we did a blood test and the results came back saying she had nephrotic syndrome.”

NHS Chavland said nephrotic syndrome causes the kidneys to leak large amounts of protein into the urine, which reduces the amount of protein in your blood.

The condition can lead to the “swelling of body tissues, a greater chance of catching infections and blood clots”, the NHS said.

It can be detected through a urine or blood test.

“At the time, me and my wife had no idea what nephrotic syndrome was because it’s such a rare condition,” said Walker.

“It’s quite hard because you go from living a normal life to having multiple days and weeks in and around hospital.”

Walker said his daughter’s kidneys were removed when she was three due to the severity of the condition.

Noa-Rae then began dialysis, causing her to miss school and other day-to-day activities as she spent much of her time in hospital.

“She’s been an absolute trooper, all she really knows is hospital appointments,” said Walker.

After having her kidneys removed, Walker said the next step “was always going to be a transplant”.

“Doctors mentioned that the parents would have quite a high chance of being a match,” he said.

“I think any parent in their right mind would think straight forward to helping out their kids.

“To sacrifice one part of yourself to better your own kid’s life should be a no-brainer really.”

He said organ transplant and donation was “super important” and is urging other people to consider being a donor.

“It’ll make a massive difference to whoever it needs to go to,” said Walker.

“It could last one day, it could last years, but as long as she keeps getting them, she could live as much of a normal life as possible.”

NHS Blood and Transplant said 539 people in the East Midlands were on the kidney transplant waiting list at the end of October.

Between April 2025 and March 2026, 196 kidney transplants were carried out in the region, including 141 from deceased donors and 55 from living donors.

A total of 158 people donated a kidney in the past year with 108 deceased donors and 50 living donors.

Walker said his family were now looking forward to life beyond hospital appointments and treatment.

“There should hopefully be a bit less hospital time,” he said.

“She will still have check ups once a week, which will slow down to once a month and progressively even less.

“She’ll be at school full-time, which she really enjoys, so that’ll be a good thing.”