By Craig Smith

A FIFE mother who has made the brave decision to donate one of her kidneys to her ill son has called on members of the public to help her fund-raising efforts.

Michelle Smith (37), from Leven, will undergo the operation on June 18 in the hope of providing her 18-year-old son Michael Corrigan with a better quality of life.

Michael has suffered with a kidney defect since he was seven months old and had his first transplant at the age of 12.

Sadly though, that procedure was unsuccessful and has since led to complications which now means that a further transplant is vital.

With the operation just over the horizon, Michelle, who works at Woolworths in Glenrothes, is determined to raise money for those affected by renal problems through the store’s own charity, Kids First.

Collection boxes are located by the tills in the Glenrothes Woolworths store and all of the proceeds raised will be divided between Michael himself, national charity Kidney Kids Scotland and Yorkhill Children’s Hospital’s ward 6a renal unit.

“Kidney Kids Scotland has been very supportive to Michael and our family and we are grateful for everything,” Michelle told The Courier.

“Michael would also like Yorkhill Hospital ward 6a to benefit as this is where he has spent most of his time.

“Michael will move on from there but we basically want to say thanks to them for everything they have done over the years.”

Michael’s renal failure was brought about by a condition called cystinosis, a rare metabolic disease which causes an accumulation of amino acids, forming crystals that can build up and damage cells.

These crystals negatively affect many systems in the body, especially the kidneys and eyes.

Michael is at college training to be a chef but Michelle, who now lives with her partner Mark Corrigan, is determined to give her son a better quality of life by going through with the operation.

She said the whole family has gone through a great deal over the last few years but added that everyone is optimistic that the operation will be successful.

“At the very beginning I was going to get tested to see if I could help, but Mike wanted me to be there when he woke up,” Michelle said.

“There were problems after the first transplant and they reoperated but Michael then had problems with rejection.

“He had glandular fever, tonsillitis, diabetes and fits and he had to spend eight months in Yorkhill.

“Things then went along a bit better than they had been and the kidney kicked in and started doing what it had to do.

“But after that Michael went into renal failure and I said I wanted to be tested properly.

“My tests started last October, we’ve had all the checks done and I just hope everything works as it should after the operation.”