St Cuthbert's Christmas Jumper Day raises money for Kidneys for Life

This year St Cuthbert's RC High School staff and students raised a massive £411.53 for Kidneys for Life by wearing Christmas jumpers and various other activities.

Christmas cards designed by students were on sale and Mr Topham stood outside in the freezing cold giving the students an opportunity to pelt him with water bombs all for this life-saving charity.

Miss Greenwood raised awareness for the school as the charity is very close to her heart: her son, Riley also a student at St. Cuthbert’s, needed Kidneys for Life.

Miss Greenwood said: “Riley Greenwood, in year 9 was just 12-and-a-half years old, when he was rushed into hospital and diagnosed with kidney failure.

“After lots of surgery and being in hospital for six weeks on dialysis, I was trained in how to do dialysis and Riley had dialysis at home for 12 hours every night.

“His condition was diagnosed as Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, which meant a rare gene in his liver attacked his kidneys. It affects 1 in 500,000 people. This meant Riley needed a kidney transplant (to replace his non-working kidneys) and also a liver transplant (to remove the gene so it wouldn’t attack his new kidney).

“After 12 months of home dialysis Riley had to go to hospital four days a week to have hemo-dialysis to protect his stomach while on the transplant waiting list. He had only just started in reception and could only attend school two days a week.

“A phone call from Birmingham Children’s Hospital came on 20 November 2010, saying there was a match for a liver and kidney for Riley. The next day he went to theatre for the 12-hour surgery.

“It took him weeks to build his strength back up and he was allowed home (dialysis free) on the 9 December. However, on Christmas Eve he was rushed back with fluid round his lungs and spent all Christmas and New Year in hospital.

“Since then Riley has gone from strength to strength and many students and staff would never know that any of this ever happened.

“Riley competes at the transplant games every year and has won many gold, silver and bronze medals for Manchester Children’s Team over the last 10 years.

“Without this wonderful charity, the dialysis that Riley received to keep him alive, and the funding to be able to compete with other athletes who have been through the same thing, would not have been possible.

“Both myself and Riley are truly grateful for this opportunity to help raise funds here at St. Cuthbert’s.

“Thank you all so much for your donations.

“Victoria, the organiser of the charity has said that nobody has ever raised this amount of money from a school event before, so again thank you very much.

“I have had so many students asking me questions who are really interested in Riley’s story. It’s been nice to share and show the positive impact of organ donation, and how it changes people’s lives. I am really proud of Riley for not being embarrassed to let people know what he’s been through and how it has impacted his life.”