Yorkshire family's desperate appeal to find kidney donor for 13-year-old Fraser

But as it all comes crashing down for Fraser Jeavons, his family has issued a desperate appeal to find a live donor to save his life.

The odds of finding a match have been slashed, after everything his body has been through, but they have hopes of a kindness to gift him a second chance.

"If he doesn't get a kidney, he is going to die," says his grandmother Marlene Jeavons. "It's the only thing that can keep him alive."

Fraser, an identical twin, was born prematurely at 33 weeks, with complications at birth leading to irreparable kidney damage.

His first transplant at age four came from an anonymous, altruistic donor. But the immuno-suppressent drugs led to cancer, Burketts Lymphoma, just before his eighth birthday.

After overcoming the cancer, his body rejected the transplant. He now has kidney failure, and is 70 miles from his parents and siblings as he undergoes dialysis three times a week.

At his grandparents' home in Huddersfield, Fraser is a joy to watch. There is a cheeky smile behind those russet brown eyes, as he playfully teases his grandmother.

He takes it all in stride, she says. He knows he needs a kidney, and he knows it could be a long time. But he has never really known any different.

"Kids are so resilient," she adds. "Everything that life's thrown at him, he just gets on with it. He must have spent 60 per cent of his time in hospital. But you would never guess."

Fraser has lived with his grandparents since he was 11-weeks-old, apart from two years after his first transplant when he was well, to ensure a continuity to his care at Leeds Children's Hospital, and access to the treatment he needs.

Mrs Jeavons, aged 70, is a former nursing director of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Fraser's father is a consultant trauma surgeon, his grandfather a retired GP.

This is a family that knows the NHS, and the limits of the human body. They are desperate to find as many people as they can, to come forward for tests as a potential donor.

Search for donors

Because of what Fraser's body has been through, he is now highly sensitised to an antibody which half the population carries, making it even more difficult to find a match.

"We need a live donor, because we need to test to see if they carry the antibodies that Fraser will reject," said Mrs Jeavons.

"We've gone through all the family, looking. I'm too old, my son is the wrong blood group. My daughter thought she might be a match, but she has the antibodies.

"The more people screened, the greater the chance is that someone will be a match. Meanwhile Fraser is on dialysis. The longer he goes on, the more he deteriorates."

Because of uncertainty over coronavirus, Fraser is being kept away from his classes at independent Ackworth School, which he adores. Instead a teacher joins him at home, or on the ward as he undergoes haemodialysis, three times a week.

But without a donor, his prognosis isn't good. He has already survived three life-threatening illnesses in his 13 years, and undergone 17 operations.

His life, says Mrs Jeavons, is now very restricted. Banned from the taste of real chocolate, and with his water intake measured in millilitres with a daily allowance.

He cannot playfight with his friends. He cannot swim, with the tubes in his chest. With a donor, say his family, he could thrive.

"We are appealing because we are not going to get a donor easily," says Mrs Jeavons. "This is to save his life, and to give him a normal, happy life. It's a hope of a second chance."

Kidney donor appeal

A kidney is needed to help Fraser live, and while he is on the transplant list his best hope is with a live donor who can be tested for the antibodies his body will reject.

The first step is an online questionnaire from the Leeds transplant team, with potential donors then sent to their nearest hospital for testing to see if they may be a match.

To find out more about becoming a donor click here or email [email protected], referencing 'Help Fraser'.

For more on the appeal, the family has set up a Facebook group called HelpFraser.