An Altrincham mum who has worked as a nurse at a Manchester hospital for more than two decades has received a life-saving operation from her own colleagues.

Mini Karuppan, a Senior Clinical Research Nurse in Diabetes, discovered she needed a new kidney in 2015 when she was in her early 40s.

She went for a routine trip to her GP practice after feeling slightly unwell and it was revealed she had high blood pressure.

Subsequent blood tests revealed one of her kidneys was not functioning properly and she needed to go on the transplant waiting list for a new kidney.

Mini, who has a husband, Baz, and a son named Sid who was 11 at the time, was placed on the waiting list and was expecting to wait for five or six years for the right donor match to be found.

Mini, now 46, said: "I was very lucky and only had to wait just over two years. 

"I am so grateful to the team here in Manchester with Rajinder Singh and Professor Titus Augustine and the brilliant teams across the hospital - I hold them all up in such high regard."

Mini is of Indian heritage which can make finding an organ match more challenging, as donation levels are lower in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

From white donors, the organ donation consent rate in 2021 was, on average, 75 per cent compared to 36 per cent consent rates from people of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

Mini keeps in contact anonymously with her donation family, writing a letter to them twice a year to thank them - at Christmas time and during May, which she calls her ‘Kidneyversary’.

Seeing her mother's experience first-hand motivated Sid, who turned 18 in May, to sign up to the Organ Donor register.

Mini said: "I was quite surprised at first. However, he has seen the impact and the positive difference it has made to our family."

Last year, Manchester hospitals carried out 312 transplant operations and this number is expected to rise this year with 166 operations recorded in the first six months of 2022.

Mini's story has been shared during Organ Donation Week, running from September 26 to October 2.

To find out more about organ donation visit organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 2323.