A desperate woman who has just months to live if she doesn't find a live kidney donor decided to advertise in The Chronicle to locate someone to help save her life.
Janet Bell, 43, was diagnosed with kidney failure 17 years ago and relies on daily dialysis to stay alive.
Faced with less than six months to live after her second transplant failed, the successful businesswoman – who owns Frodsham Laser Clinic in Collinson Court – now has a desperate race against time to find a live kidney donor.
But Janet, known as Jan by customers and friends, has been left overwhelmed after being inundated by responses from strangers globally after placing an advert for a kidney donor in The Chronicle .
Since the advert appeared on Thursday, November 7, almost 100 people have contacted Jan's helpline and her Facebook page has been swamped with replies from people willing to donate a kidney after being moved by her story.
“They’re selfless, they’re not thinking of themselves but of how they can save my life,” said Jan, who has lived in Sandfields, Frodsham, for the past 10 years.
“Anybody who would do that for me would become a best friend for life. I would need to meet them and tell them it was because of what they had done I was still alive.”
Jan remains realistic about the chance of any of the donors being her positive match, but is determined to contact every single person personally and urge them to help others if they are not a match.
“It will take the rest of the week for me to get back to them,” said Jan, whose story created worldwide interest after she appeared on ITV’s Daybreak.
“It has been overwhelming. I think the transplant unit usually deal with five or six live donors a year so I think they had a fright when I told them how many responses I’d had.
“In reality only seven or eight of these people could be a match, I am quite realistic about that, but they could help so many more people on the waiting list and that would make all this worthwhile.”
Jan was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1996 and has since received two transplants from deceased donors. Years of invasive dialysis have damaged her veins so badly she is totally reliant on a neckline, which could fail at any time.
Now her only chance is to find a live donor, as the antibody levels in her body are so high it would be impossible to find a deceased donor whose kidney her body would not reject.
“I was told if the access goes I won’t be around very long,” said Jan, who is determined to find a live donor so she can continue looking after her parents and running her successful business.
“I asked them if they wanted me to look in the Yellow Pages. Short of walking down the street with a sandwich board on, there’s nothing else I can do. This advert was my last hope.”
Jan says she placed the advert in The Chronicle as she thought it would catch the attention of thousands of readers, who would seriously consider her plea.
“It is the first time it has been done,” said Jan.
“If you're negative it never happens but if you are positive another door opens and something amazing is bound to happen.”
To contact Jan about potentially becoming a donor, call 0207 484 8633.
