A MAN who waited nearly 20 years for a new kidney has urged other patients: “Don’t give up hope.”

Pat Coll was given no odds by doctors for getting a transplant – the chances were so slim.

His body registered a 100% antibody count, which meant that it was likely his body would reject the organ.

Three years ago we told of Pat’s plight as he backed our Opt For Life campaign to change Scotland’s transplant laws.

But against the odds, after 18 years hooked up to a dialysis machine for 18 hours a week –16,848 hours of his life –Pat received the life-changing call..He said: “It’s given me a future.

“The organ was from the donor list so it could have been the Evening Times campaign which spurred someone on to sign up. I am so grateful to be part of the campaign.”

Patrick, 43, from Bailleston, first developed problems with his kidneys when he was 13.

He was diagnosed with a condition known as Henoch-Schonlein purpura, where the body’s immune system begins to attack its own tissues.

Seven years later he was having dialysis three times a week.

“I was a 20-year-old guy whose life was over as far as I knew,” he says.

He had an initial transplant in 1994 but it failed after three years and he was on dialysis until June this year.

Pat came to accept it as a part of life, missing out summer holidays every year and a honeymoon when he got married and avoiding treats like cheese and chocolate.

He said: “They would never have told me there was no chance at all, but I was told I had 100% antibodies. I don’t think there were any odds for me getting one.

I HAD accepted that. I treated dialysis like a part-time job. It was just something that I had to do.”

However, on June 2, everything changed for Pat, who works for the Department For Work And Pensions in Glasgow.

He said: “I got home from work had my dinner and was getting ready to go to dialysis.

“Just before I was about to leave my mobile rang. I just ignored it because I though it was a sales call.

“Then within a couple of minutes the house phone rang. My wife, Michele, answered the phone.

“She gave me the phone and the man on the phone said: ‘My name is Oliver and we might have a transplant for you’.

“I thought it was a wind-up. It just didn’t sink in.

“I was taking the information in but I don’t think I was believing it.

“I was going up for dialysis to the new hospital.

“It was only when I actually met Oliver at the hospital that I realised this could happen.

“Still in the back of my mind I was thinking, I’ve got 100% antibodies.”

Pat still had some final tests to go through before doctors were sure they could go ahead with the transplant.

He said: “Even when they took me down to theatre, I still had my doubts that the operation would work.”

And when he woke up at 10am the next day after the transplant he had an agonising wait to find out if the operation was a success. The new kidney took two days to kick in.

He said: “I think it was only in the middle of last week, I realised, this is going to be good.

“There’s a website where you can check your blood results. I can see my creatinine levels, which tells you how well your kidneys are functioning. It has gone from 600 – kidney failure – to 153.

“I got married last September and we didn’t go on honeymoon.

“Now we know we can. It’s a cliche but the world is my oyster.

“My only regret is my mum and dad aren’t here to enjoy this with me.

In all honesty I would happily give it up for them to still be here.

“The next best thing I can do for them is not squander this chance I’ve been given.”

In the next few weeks, a bill to change Scotland’s transplant laws put forward by Glasgow MSP Anne McTaggart will be given to the Health and Sport Committee for scrutiny.

The bill aims to introduced a ‘soft’ opt-out system in Scotland, following Wales, where individuals are not required to sign up to a register if they wish to donate organs after death.

However those who are opposed are entitled to ‘opt out’ and families would still have a role in the process.

Pat said: “It's the wrong way around. It’s easy for people to say I’ll donate but then sit back and do nothing.

“When you are on dialysis and get into double figures you think, it’s not going to happen.

“I hope my story gives other patients some hope.”