Bradford girl's family feel 'helpless' as they seek kidney donor

Uqbah Mohammed was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease four years ago

A teenager's family have said they feel "helpless and distraught" as they seek a kidney donor to save the girl's life.

Alongside other health conditions, Uqbah Mohammed, 13, has stage five chronic kidney disease, and has to undergo dialysis three times a week.

Relatives, who are not a donor match, fear Uqbah's mum could lose a second child following the death of her first daughter from cancer 10 years ago.

Her cousin Yasin Shah said they wanted nothing more than to find a donor.

Uqbah, from Bradford, has had multiple health problems from birth, including galactosemia, right-eye congenital ptosis, and autism.

She has always been tube-fed because orally she will not take food due to her environmental and mental delay.

Uqbah's cousin Yasin Shah said the family felt helpless because they were not match donors

She was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease four years ago and the family said her condition had deteriorated.

Mr Shah said: "Her kidney function was 12 and then fell to eight. We're worried it's now edging to five, which can lead to kidney failure in the best-case scenario and death in the worst."

Mr Shah said any potential donor would need to be the same blood group as Uqbah - blood group O - and preferably from a South Asian background, but encouraged people of any ethnicity to come forward.

"It is preferred if they are South Asian as when the organ is given to her, it has to match and the body has to agree with it.

"But the more people that can step forward the more chance there is to find someone."

He added: "We feel quite helpless. If any of us did match then it wouldn't have come to this stage of making a public appeal but we don't want to lose another person so young."

NHS figures for 2019/20 show that 17% of people on the transplant waiting list are of Asian origin. However, less than 2% of Asian people are on the organ donor register.

Imam Sidiq Diwan said there were a variety of reasons why Asian people may be reluctant to come forward.

"Some talk about, 'Is this my body? Can I donate? I don't own my body, I'm the steward of this body so I can't make this decision.' But we are allowed.

"Islamically, we are asked to be compassionate and empathise with suffering."