A Northern mum has shared her joy after winning a legal battle to get her son a potentially life-saving kidney transplant.
It comes after specialists questioned whether it was “in his best interests”.
17-year-old William Verden from Lancaster has a rare disease called steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome, which means his kidneys function at just 5%.
William has been a patient at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital since November 2019, where he receives dialysis at least four times a week, and his mum, Ami McLennan, has always believed that a transplant is William’s best chance at life – but specialists at the hospital could not agree over what treatment he should have.
Without a new kidney, William’s doctors said he may only have around 12 months to live, yet other medical professionals also expressed their concerns over the effectiveness of a kidney transplant.
Some argued that the chance of disease recurrence from a transplant would be near to 100%.
William has autism and ADHD, which means that in the eyes of the law, he lacks the mental capacity to make such decisions for himself, hence why his mother had fought so hard to get his case to court.
Mum Ami McLennan has always believed that a kidney transplant is William’s best chance at life / Credit: Ami McLennan (via Facebook)
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust brought the case to ask a judge to rule on the matter following Ms McLennan’s disagreement with the medics.
At the trail this week, the court was told that if a kidney transplant proved successful, then William would live a further 15 to 20 years before he needed another one, but also heard from those who opposed a transplant as a result of William’s learning disabilities – factors which some medics believe would cause psychological and physical harm with post-operation sedation and ventilation.
After the judge heard from both sides, they ruled that William would be able to get a kidney transplant, and he is now on the waiting list for a donor.
Ruling that a transplant was in the teenager’s best interests, as reported by ITV Granada, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said: “Transplant is not futile and although the chances of that lead to an increase in William’s suffering in the short and medium term, it has the commensurate benefit which is there is a chance for William of long-term survival.”
William has been a patient at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital since November 2019 / Credit: Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (via NHS)
Following the decision, Ms McLennan said: “All we have wanted was for him to be added to the transplant list and his treatment to be continued until a donor is found.
“I feel it’s the minimum he deserves and what any mum would do for their child.
“As a family we still struggle to comprehend why William’s case has gotten to this stage, but this judgment is about trying to look to the future [as] what’s happened is in the past and we need to focus on trying to find the crucial donor who can provide William with the best chance in life.
“We continue to be amazed by how many people have been touched by William’s story and remain ever so thankful to those who have expressed a wish to potentially become a donor or who have contacted us with messages of support.”
Featured Image – Family Handout
News
Spanish journalist rubbishes reports of Barcelona debating ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early
Danny Jones
Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué has come out to rubbish reports that FC Barcelona have been considering ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early.
The well-known football reporter, who regularly works with the likes of Sky Sports, CBS Sports, BBC and more, is one of many to have publicly decried false claims made about the Manchester United loanee, who joined the La Liga giants at the start of this summer.
Barca themselves are also said to have quashed the rumours, with Balagué’s quotes having now been widely circulated online.
Speaking via X over the weekend, the 56-year-old put it simply: that the rumblings are nonsense, reassuring that the club have plenty of faith in his abilities.
Absolutely rubbish that Barcelona is planning to end up early @MarcusRashford loan deal
Barça told his representative that they have a lot of confidence in Rashford’s potential and that they believe he will recover as a top player
As you can see, the Catalan-born RCD Espanyol fan also chose to publicly align himself with former England footballer, Gary Lineker, who has suggested that a targeted and discriminatory narrative against Rashford has developed in recent years.
Though he didn’t state it verbatim, Balagué added: “No more to say, apart from the fact I agree with Gary Lineker and his treatment by some media.”
In case you were unaware of what he’s precisely referring to, Lineker said in a chat with the Man United forward on his The Rest Is Football podcast that he believes Rashford “wouldn’t face the same criticism if he was white.”
Having also made the move from Britain to Barcelona back in 1986 (spending a total of three seasons there), the 64-year-old knows plenty about adjusting from playing in one country to another.
You can see the interview in full here.
The interview was conducted shortly after Rashford’s loan deal was completed, and he had plenty to say about his boyhood team.
Responding to Balagué’s social media post, one commenter wrote: “This nonsense is coming from racist journalists in England who refuse to leave [Rashford] alone. They bullied him when he was in England, especially during times when he seemed unhappy.
“Now, these haters have followed him to Barcelona. Rashford is one of the kindest players in the world, but these clowns just won’t let him live his life in peace.”
It is worth noting, however, that the original reports in question and ultimately aggregated by media across Europe and here in the UK come from a domestic outlet, El Nacional.
While he is yet to rediscover the form of his peak years in United red at the Camp Nou, he is now entering what are traditionally seen as the ‘prime’ period in a footballer’s career and did show more positive signs on loan at Aston Villa during the second half of the previous campaign.
At 27, there is still plenty of time to turn things around; that being said, after being brought back into the national team and with his parent club holding an option to buy clause for around a reported £20 million, the question remains whether he will be returning to Old Trafford at the end of the term. Speaking of…
How Greater Manchester ranks as NHS ‘league tables’ are published for first time ever
Emily Sergeant
A ‘pioneering’ new system of league tables revealing the best and worst performing NHS Trusts has been published for the first time ever.
This marks a new era of ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ in the NHS, with the league tables delivering on the Government’s promise to drive up standards, tackle variation in care, and ensure people get the high-quality service they rightly expect.
Every trust in England – from urgent and emergency care, through to elective operations and mental health services – will be ranked quarterly against ‘clear and consistent’ standards.
“This is not just about data, it’s about delivery,” the Government says.
Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster. It will support them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS.
Read more about the new league tables on overall performance for NHS services across England ⬇️ https://t.co/e8DYNakbfR
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) figures reveal that four out of five of England’s 134 ‘acute’ hospital trusts are considered to be failing.
Among the best-performing hospitals in the country was Manchester’s specialist Cancer hospital, The Christie, which was actually ranked in an impressive third place, while across Greater Manchester as a region, the highest ranked trusts were Tameside and Bolton, which came in 58 and 59 respectively on the list.
Manchester University Foundation Trust, in the heart of the city centre, came in 71st place.
The rest of the region’s trusts all came in the bottom half of the rankings – with Stockport at 86, Wigan at 92, and finally the Northern Care Alliance at 116.
NHS ‘league tables’ ranking every trust have been published for first time ever / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
Sadly, it was revealed that more than half of the 20 worst general hospitals are in the north of England, but it is London that dominates the top half of the table.
“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practises with others, taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS,” explained Heath Secretary, Wes Streeting.
“We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it.
Emily Sergeant -
9th March 2022 
