A former pub landlord and retired priest who received a life-saving kidney transplant on his birthday has described the anonymous organ donation as the greatest gift he will ever receive.
Chris Maclean, 69, was woken at 2:30 AM on his 68th birthday with the news that a donor kidney had been matched, following nine months on the national waiting list. The operation allowed him to avoid dialysis entirely after years of quiet health decline triggered by an underlying pituitary gland condition.
Reflecting on the milestone a year later, the father and grandfather expressed deep gratitude for the donor family who chose to give life during their own moment of grief.
Chris said
“For my birthday this year, I received a bottle of whiskey,”
“It was a very nice bottle, but nothing could match the gift of a kidney. The anniversary of the transplant was an emotional time for me, and my thoughts were with the family of my donor. In their pain and loss, they were able to think of others, and for that they will always have my enormous gratitude.”
Chris, who previously ran the Plough and Harrow in Bridge and the Railway Hotel in Faversham before retraining as a Church of England priest, was first diagnosed with acromegaly—a rare disorder caused by a benign brain tumor—several years ago. Routine blood monitoring eventually revealed a steady, silent failure in his kidney function.
Although doctors fitted a fistula to prepare him for potential dialysis, a call in November 2024 ended in a false alarm when final organ checks ruled out the surgery. When the hospital phoned on his birthday in 2025, he initially mistook the ringing phone for his morning alarm and hung up.
He recalled,
“Luckily they called back a few minutes later and told me to get to London as soon as possible,”
“Because I had the false alarm the previous year, I was prepared for disappointment. I was slightly astonished when I woke up and was told it had all been done, but there was a feeling of great delight.”
Now fully recovered, Chris manages a strict post-transplant medication regimen, estimating he has taken 7,500 pills over the past 12 months to prevent organ rejection. He credits both his medical team and his faith for seeing him through the ordeal.
Chris said:
“It does require rigorous discipline… but it is absolutely worth it.
“I can eat and live as I want. I don’t know much about my donor, but I will forever be grateful to them and their family for their gift to me.”
To learn more about organ donation or to register your decision, visit the NHS Organ Donation Register.