A DEVON nurse and dairy farmer is preparing to take part in a major sporting event dedicated to transplant recipients and donors after giving her fellow farmer and nephew a new lease of life.

Jo Jones, from Crediton, is gearing up to take part in the Westfield Health British Transplant Games between August 6 and 9 – 18 months on from donating one of her kidneys to her husband’s now 13-year-old nephew James, who lives on a sheep farm in South Molton, after his parents weren’t able to donate.

Now, as Jo prepares to represent Team Devon & Cornwall at this summer's Westfield Health British Transplant Games in Sheffield, she hopes sharing their story will encourage more families to talk about organ donation and inspire more people to consider becoming living donors.

James was born with severe kidney problems after doctors discovered one of his kidneys did not function at all and the other worked at only around 40 per cent capacity.

Although his family always knew he would eventually need a transplant, they encouraged him to live as normal a childhood as possible.

When James' kidney function deteriorated to around 15 per cent at the age of 10, doctors began searching for a suitable donor in the hope of avoiding dialysis.

His father was ruled out after tests revealed his kidneys were not a uniform size, while his mother later developed rheumatoid arthritis and was also unable to proceed.

That was when Jo decided to volunteer.

Following months of detailed assessments at hospitals in Exeter and Bristol, doctors discovered she was not only a compatible blood group but an exceptionally close tissue match.

The transplant took place just in time – with Jo at Southmead Hospital and James at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children - shortly before James was expected to begin dialysis.

Jo said: “We'd always known James would need a transplant one day and I'd often said to my husband and children that it would probably end up being one of us, without truly believing it.

“When his parents found out they couldn't donate, it just felt like the right thing to do. If you're in a position to help someone and potentially save or transform their life, why wouldn't you?

“My faith, my family and my nursing background all shaped that decision. I spoke everything through with my own family because it would affect all of us during my recovery, but they were behind me from the beginning.

“I never saw it as a sacrifice. I simply saw it as an opportunity to give James the chance to enjoy a healthy future.”

Jo, who works as a research and rapid response nurse at Hospiscare in Exeter alongside helping to run her family's 220-cow dairy farm, said one of the most rewarding moments has been watching James flourish following the transplant.

“If you looked at James before the transplant, you wouldn't necessarily have thought there was anything wrong with him because he'd carried on living life as normally as possible,” she said.

“I think that actually made the operation harder for him emotionally because suddenly he was spending weeks in hospital despite not really feeling ill beforehand.

“But now he's doing brilliantly. He's embraced everything that's happened, he's fundraising for kidney research and the children's renal ward, and he's back doing what he loves most on the farm.”

Jo has deliberately tried not to let the transplant define their relationship.

“I've always been careful not to make James feel he owes me anything,” she said.

“I wanted us to carry on being auntie and nephew exactly as we always had been. If he wants to talk about the transplant then we do, but otherwise we just get on with life.”

Just over a year after donating her kidney, Jo completed last year's Westfield Health British Transplant Games and will return to Sheffield this August to compete in archery, ball throw and the 5km donor run.

The Westfield Health British Transplant Games, taking place in Sheffield between August 6 and 9, is the flagship event of Transplant Active and celebrates the life-changing benefits of organ donation while promoting active recovery after transplantation.

More than 2,500 competitors, including over 1,000 transplant recipients, donor families and living donors, are expected to participate across 26 sports.

The Games also aim to encourage more people to have conversations with their loved ones about organ donation. One organ donor can save up to nine lives and transform the lives of many more.

Jo credits exercise with helping both her physical and mental recovery.

“I've always enjoyed being active and having goals to work towards,” she said.

“The Games gave me exactly that after surgery. They motivated me to gradually rebuild my fitness while meeting other donors and transplant recipients who understood the journey – and during my preparations for last year’s Games I even managed to run 17 miles just two months after the operation!

“It's such a positive, uplifting event because it celebrates what transplantation makes possible while also honouring the incredible generosity of donors and their families.

“I'd love James to experience that one day because there are so many young transplant recipients there and I think he'd realise he's far from alone.”

Jo has since become even more involved in promoting living kidney donation, volunteering as a peer supporter for people considering donation and taking part in research designed to encourage more living donors across the UK.

For more information about the Westfield Health British Transplant Games, visit www.transplantactive.co.uk

For more information about organ donation, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk