Super Dad Runs For Hospital After Son's Kidney Transplant

Lee Torrington, a super dad from Halesowen, ran a half marathon every single day for a whole month, raising an incredible £2,200 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, where his son, Henry, 13, received a life-changing kidney transplant. 

Henry was only four-and-a-half when he was diagnosed with kidney failure. His parents had noticed he was constantly getting ill, with chicken pox, pneumonia and other illnesses. Something wasn’t right. Unfortunately, it took many appointments until he was examined further, and it was finally discovered what was making Henry so sick. He was immediately blue-lighted to the Children’s Hospital, with a doctor on board, where they were met by the specialist Renal team, to begin the care that would save Henry’s life. 

Henry started nine months of dialysis. Initially, he had treatment at the hospital, following which Lee and wife, Dawn, were trained to give him dialysis at home. Eventually though the family were given the heartbreaking news that he’d need a transplant to survive long-term. Naturally, his family tested to see if they were a match, and thankfully, his dad Lee was.  

The family were so relieved to hear the news and it couldn’t have come soon enough, as Henry had become quite poorly, with the condition impacting his growth too. When the day came to have the surgery, the father and son were separated, with Lee at another hospital, while Henry waited with his mum, Dawn, at the Children’s Hospital. 14 hours after Lee first went under the knife, Henry returned from surgery having successfully had his dad’s healthy kidney transplanted in him.  

Eight years later, after a few hiccups along the way, Henry is a healthy 13-year-old, and fighting fit.  He wears his ‘transplant warrior’ badge with pride and takes part in the British Transplant Games every year, with other kids who have received a transplant, as part of Team BCH. The group competes with other hospitals in an Olympics-style-sports competition. Last year, Henry helped Team BCH take home the Best Children's Team title, picking up 80 medals.  

Team BCH’s participation in the British Transplant Games is supported by the hospital’s charity, and seeing how much Henry enjoys taking part, and how much he gets from it, inspired Lee to take on his own challenge to raise money to support. 

Lee knew he’d need to start training early if he was to run 13 miles every day for a month. He anticipated it would take a huge physical toll on him, so completely overhauled his lifestyle to become more active. Throughout the month, Lee took, on average, two hours a day to complete the distance, but thankfully, as he reached the halfway point, his body finally started to adjust to the huge toll, and the painful blisters he suffered began to reduce. A special recorded message from Sir Mo Farah gave him an extra boost too. Lee ended up raising an astonishing £2,200 for the charity.  

Lee said: “If kids like Henry, who have been through so much in their young lives, can face dialysis as well as taking part in the transplant games, I thought I can take on something that I would never normally think of doing. I want to make a difference and support the hospital who saved Henry’s life and show how much of a difference donors can make.  

“I wanted to make my last half marathon special, so ended it at the Children’s Hospital. I even had a BBC WM run with me for the last two miles! It was so lovely to be back at the hospital in happier circumstances and to have staff and my family waiting there to greet me. It’s something that’ll stay with me.” 

Miranda Williams, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said; “Lee has not only done the heroic thing by donating his kidney, which any parent would of course do, but he’s also taken on the amazing task of running a half marathon every day to help us support us at the British Transplant Games, which brings so much joy to our patients every year. We are so proud of Lee and Henry!”