Heartwarming message of hope goes global
A video message of support from five-year-old Gold Coast kidney patient Jack Scoble to a British boy seeking a transplant donor has made international headlines.
Jack Scoble suffered unexplained heart and kidney failure two years ago and had to endure 13 hours of dialysis each day for a full year before he received an adult kidney donation.
When his family came across a Facebook appeal page seeking a kidney donor for British boy Matthew Pietrzyk, Jack wanted to help.
“He wanted to call him on the phone right away and encourage him … we had to try and explain he lived in a different country and we didn’t have his number,” Jack’s mother Lizzie Scoble told News Limited.
The family made a short video message of support and posted it to Matthew’s Facebook page. In the video Jack says: “I want to tell you to hang in there buddy.
“I got my new kidney after a whole year and even though I’m little, I remember how hard it was living on the machine and having injections every day.
“But keep your fight and your chin up, Matthew.”
The heartwarming video has attracted media coverage from around the world and raised the profile of Matthew’s plight.
A picture on Matthew’s Facebook pare shows him holding a sign that says: “A million likes on FB probably won’t get me a kidney, but it might. And we are still raising awareness for organ donation. What’s not to like?”
