“I CAN’T believe how quickly the time has flown by. Last year I was panicking about having the operation and getting through it.

“I couldn’t even think about how I would be now,” said John, of Turks Road, Radcliffe.

The 47-year-old was born with polycystic kidney disease, which had caused his renal function to fall to just 12 per cent.

Other members of his family had died from the disease and his father had a kidney transplant 22 years ago. It made John forgetful and increasingly tired due to the pressure on his other organs, and he was close to needing regular dialysis treatment.

As his condition worsened, both his mother, Norine, and sister, Belinda Stanley, offered to give a kidney.

Norine, now aged 71, underwent a series of tests to check she was a suitable donor and the transplant was carried out on June 7 last year.

The change in John was “instant” and he recovered well, returning to work running Valley Blinds, on Bradley Fold Trading Estate, three months later. Norine, of Kingsley Street, Elton, took slightly longer to recover but is also doing well.

John said: “I’m more active now. Before I was getting tired and couldn’t do a lot, but now I feel brilliant. It’s a total change.

“I’m cycling now and have bought myself a mountain bike. I’m kayaking as well. I’m back to normal and doing everything that other people can do.

“Hopefully as long as I look after the kidney and don’t do anything stupid, then it will function for a long time. I’m not a heavy drinker or anything like that. It’s important to look after myself.”

Both mother and son will receive regular check-ups for the rest of their lives, but they have made it through the first year when any complications were most likely.

They are also making plans for the future, with John hoping to raise money for Kidneys For Life, which supports the renal units at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

He said: “I want to give something back, there is no doubt about it.

“All the surgeons and the nursing staff were amazing. Without the NHS, I wouldn’t be here.”

The family is also keen to promote organ donation, as kidney transplants have transformed both John’s life and his father’s.

More than 3,000 people in the UK receive an organ each year, either from a live donor or after someone’s death.

But three people die every day while waiting for an organ transplant, so many more donors are needed.

Norine said: “I hope other people worrying about whether to give an organ will see what we have done and realise how well it can turn out.

“I’m sure most family members would be willing to donate a kidney.

“I would do it again for him tomorrow. I’m so glad I did it.”

For more information about organ donation, telephone 0300 123 23 23 or go to organ donation.nhs.uk.