Ex-Wolves star drives Organ Donation Week
Wolves favourite Willie Carr says his kidney donor saved his life and has called on others to get themselves checked out as he promotes Organ Donation Week.
Willie underwent a kidney transplant at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital on his 69th birthday in January 2019.
He completed his rehabilitation at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and continues to undergo regular check-ups at New Cross Hospital.
The 70-year-old was on dialysis for five months before a suitable match was found.
Willie believes anyone who has health concerns should get themselves checked out so they can receive treatment.
“A lot of people won’t go to the doctor’s but I think they’re daft because nowadays they can more or less treat everything,” said the former midfielder, who played 289 games for Wolves from 1975-82 and won the League Cup in 1980. “If I’d got any advice for anybody I’d say get it checked out.
“I would say it saved my life but I was lucky because I didn’t feel all that bad and I was lucky in getting a donor.
“It’s now a law that people must donate their organs unless they state otherwise and I think that’s right.”
Willie, who lives near Bridgnorth, only discovered he might have a problem with his kidneys by chance once he had retired after over a decade and a half playing professional football then at semi-professional level for several years after that.
“I played in a charity match at Molineux and a lad whacked me in the ribs, so I went to hospital and they told me my ribs were fine but I’d got abnormally small kidneys,” he recalled.
“As I got older, my numbers started to fall and I was told I might have to go in for dialysis, even though I felt OK.
“My doctor asked me what I thought and I said ‘Well, if it’s going to keep me alive then I’ll do it’.
“But I was really lucky because I was only on dialysis for five months then they said they’d got a donor and set me up to have a transplant at the QE.
“I had the operation the next day – which was my birthday – then I was transferred to New Cross. The treatment was brilliant – I could not fault it.
“I have to come in every now and then to be assessed and have my bloods done. I am so grateful for the treatment I’ve received.”
