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Dad Sheds Eight Stone So He Can Donate A Kidney To His Son

Dad Sheds Eight Stone So He Can Donate A Kidney To His Son

Barry Stokes needed to step up for his son. He rose to the challenge.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A dad who was once obese has managed to drop a massive 8 stone so that he could become a kidney donor for his sick son.

61-year-old Barry Stokes was 20 stone and told by doctors that he was too heavy to be an organ donor for his son, 32-year-old Alan.

So he got stuck in at the gym, trained hard and ate well and is now just 12 stone.

This means that he is now able to donate his kidney to Alan, who has had a load of chemotherapy treatments that have damaged his kidneys to the point where a transplant is required.

Barry before.
SWNS

Alan suffered from a rare form of cancer during his teenage years.

Barry, from Lostock Hall near Preston said: "I was classed as obese, off the scale in terms of my height and body size.

"We were told that the best matches would be family members and preferably the father.

"The doctor said even if I was compatible, they wouldn't take my kidney because of my weight.

"Now I'm ready and waiting. If something had happened and I couldn't help, I couldn't have lived with that."

When Alan was just a teenager he was told that he may only have months to live - this led to the chemotherapy treatments. However, the lasting effects on his kidneys have been serious.

Luckily, Alan is now getting better and is studying towards a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Manchester.

Barry after.
SWNS

However, as part of his treatment he still needs to have chemo, which will mean that in future he is likely to need a transplant.

Barry immediately stepped forward to be a donor but was told that his weight simply wouldn't allow it.

This meant that he took on the challenge of losing the massive amount of weight and hired a personal trainer to help him on his mission.

He continued: "I used to be 12 stone but put on weight gradually over a long period of time through comfort eating because of stress.

"It got to the stage where I was out of breath walking up the stairs.

"Because of the condition I was in, I was putting myself at risk of diabetes, for example, that would have meant more care of a number of years.

"Both my wife and my daughter bought into it with me, it would have been difficult to do it on my own, they've benefitted as well."

SWNS

The former salesman also pays tribute to the local council's 'Couch to 5k' scheme.

The programme is run by ABL Leisure with Lancashire County Council and offers free nutrition advice and exercise.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: Weight Loss, UK News, News, Fitness, Cancer