Battling young West Brom fan set to leave hospital after receiving Dad's kidney
A BRAVE Midland boy who received one of his dad’s kidneys could be out of hospital for Christmas Day.
Ben Whittall, who celebrated his tenth birthday earlier this month, received the best present he could hope for when father Stuart donated the vital organ.
Now he is recovering well in Birmingham Children’s Hospital after the operation.
Ben, from Bearwood, needed dialysis for ten hours each night and had been waiting on the transplant list before finding Barclays bank manager Stuart, 39, was the perfect match. Stuart underwent an operation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and is now back at home, facing six weeks of total rest.
His wife Sarah, also 39, who works for West Midlands Police, is at their son’s bedside around the clock to witness Ben’s amazing recovery.
Sarah said: “Ben is doing really, really well.
“He has made good progress – he has been out of bed and has done a circle round the ward.
“He is talking and he has had quite a few of his lines taken out.
“He is really chuffed about the idea of getting back to normal, but I think he is still trying to take it all in because he’s still having a lot of things done to him in hospital. They might let him out for the day on Christmas Day depending on how it goes.
“At the same time as Ben went on the transplant list, they opened it out to friends and family.
“Myself and Stuart went for tests and we were both a match.
“But Stuart decided to go for it because of Ben being that bit younger and needing after-care from me.”
Looking after Stuart are the couple’s other sons Tom, 17, and Jack, 14.
A relative will drive Stuart to see his wife and youngest son later this week.
It will be the first time since the operation that they will have seen each other. Baggies fan Ben, a season ticket holder at the Hawthorns along with his dad and brothers, was given the honour of being mascot for the night for Albion’s home game with QPR last Monday, the day before going into hospital.
The club heard about his illness through Radio WM’s Kidney Kids Appeal and was keen to let him lead his heroes onto the pitch.
Sarah said: “Words couldn’t describe his face when he got to the ground, getting all that attention – especially since it was the night before he was admitted to hospital.
“He forgot about it all for two hours. The club really spoilt him.”
