Party to celebrate Riley’s health

Riley in his King Kong costume with mum, Stacey

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The family and friends of a young boy from Rochdale joined together tonight (Saturday 5 March 2011) to celebrate his health following a successful double transplant.

Riley Greenwood, 4, from Shawclough, had a combined liver and kidney transplant in November to rid him of an extremely rare disease.

His mum, Stacey, 22, vowed to throw him a party after the three month stage and tonight she did just that.

The operation Riley had has only been carried out eight times in the world. He is the first person in the UK to have a transplant for this illness.

Riley suffered from Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome and was diagnosed with the illness in the summer of 2009.

Riley needed a double transplant because a gene in his liver was attacking his kidneys, so to just replace his kidneys would mean the gene would attack them again.

Tonight marked a new beginning from Riley, who also started school this week. Stacey decided to have a party because Riley had missed out on various family celebrations such as weddings and birthdays when he was ill.

The children at the party came in fancy dress and Riley donned a superb King Kong costume.

Riley’s family decided to use the party to also raise money for Kidneys for Life.

Stacey said: “Tonight is about Riley – it is about celebrating his health and trying to raise money at the same time.”

She added: “He is brilliant; he is like a different child.”

Stacey said the support she has had from her family and friends has been “brilliant” adding: “I couldn’t have done it without them.”