Former Kingham student John Targett ( P & D 62 – 67 ) has appeared in a number of newspaper, radio and TV interviews during January. Channel 5 and the BBC have broadcast items on John and his selfless act in donating 20% of his liver to his grandson Owen, thus saving his life.

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Owen – 13 months old at the time of the operation in November was born with a very rare liver disease – Biliary Atresia which afflicts one in 20,000 newborn children. Following the failure of an operation to clear Owen’s liver, his only chance of survival was a transplant. The family’s hopes were raised and dashed three times as donor livers became available, only to be found unsuitable. Finally John – who is supremely fit put himself forward as a potential live donor. Exhaustive medical tests were completed successfully and meetings with a social worker, psychiatrist and independent assessor undergone. John was confronted with the fact that he might not survive the operation – a fact that he accepted with great courage – approaching equanimity. His attitude was that with his sons now grown up and at the age of 59 he was expendable, compared with the possibility of a normal life for his infant grandson.

The operations took place in Leeds, close to the home of John’s son James, daughter-in-law Fleur, his grand-daughter Kinvara and Owen in Naburn, near York and have been a clear success. To the delight of everyone Owen is home, putting on weight and has lost the jaundice that was a symptom of his failing liver. John, whose home is in Ashford, Kent was also discharged from St James Hospital after only 5 days- in itself a record and testament to his fitness and powers of recovery.

John talks clearly of fulfilling his destiny and a very powerful feeling that the donation of a part of his liver was meant to be. He is a modest, self-effacing man and is not enjoying his moment in the spotlight in the very least – keen to return to what he sees as comfortable obscurity. He is accepting and responding to the ongoing interest in him and Owen only because he wants it to be known as widely as possible that those suffering from liver diseases don’t necessarily have to sit around waiting either for a replacement organ or to die. The ability of the medical profession to facilitate live donations is relatively new but, as John and Owen’s experience shows, it can quite literally be a life-saver.