By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

A DUNDEE grandmother missed her annual trip to T in the Park because she was having a kidney transplant.

Lynda Butler (46) had been keeping her fingers crossed that the imminent arrival of her third grandchild would not disrupt her weekend jaunt to Kinross last month.

Having already waited over six years for a kidney transplant, she didn’t expect the offer of a donor organ to cancel her date with the T in the Park stars.

“I was really looking forward to it and had to give up my ticket,” said Lynda, who added however that it was worth missing the event to get the kidney swap.

But so rapid was her recovery from the major surgery, that she was out of hospital just nine days after the transplant and tucked up at home watching Amy Winehouse live via camera phone.

Lynda normally joins her daughters Stacy (26) and Leoni (20) at T.

This year Leoni had to call off as she is expecting her first child, due any day now. But Lynda was planning to head for Kinross as usual and take her brother Sean for his first experience of the music extravaganza. But everything changed with a surprise phone call telling Lynda a donor organ was available.

Lynda had one kidney removed when she was just eight years old following a road accident. Her other kidney failed six years ago.

Before her kidney failed Lynda was holding down four jobs.

She got the bus at 5.15 every morning from her Happyhillock home and headed in to town to go to her cleaning job at Dundee Dental Hospital.

From there she went to two private houses to do cleaning and then on to Dora’s chip shop in Stobswell where she worked until around 10.30pm in the evening.

When her only remaining kidney failed she was so ill she had to stop working altogether.

“I got to the point where I thought I was never going to get a kidney,” said Lynda. “I had been on the waiting list over six years.”

But the 10pm phone call from Irene Russell, NHS Tayside’s transplant co-ordinator based at Ninewells Hospital, spurred her in to action.

Though Ninewells provides medical care for people with kidney disease and dialysis machines to take over the work of failed kidneys, the hospital does not undertake organ transplants and patients have to go elsewhere for their operation.

“Irene said to go to Ninewells and pick up all my documents and I had two hours to get to Edinburgh,” said Lynda.

Her transplant went ahead in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and after just five days there, she was transferred back to Ninewells where she was monitored and looked after for a further four days before being allowed home on the weekend of T in the Park.

Too frail to head for Kinross with her family, Lynda plonked herself in front of the telly to watch the festival from home.

Her elder daughter was keen her mum shouldn’t miss out on the T action.

“I was watching it on TV and my daughter phoned and was holding up the camera phone so I could see,” said Lynda.

Now feeling much better, Lynda is looking forward to the arrival of her third grandchild and hoping to pursue a career as an auxiliary nurse.

Since April 1 this year 858 people in the UK have received organ transplants. 7837 are still waiting.