Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Donating my kidney transformed a child's life

Episode Date: November 22, 2025

We hear about a rare meeting between a living organ donor and the child whose life was transformed by receiving her kidney. Aly Coyle says she was delighted to see 5-year-old Xavier happy and healthy after the transplant. His parents tracked her down through social media to say thank you, and describe her as an angel who's now part of their family. Also: how a new machine could dramatically increase the number of liver transplants, by improving the way the organs are stored outside the body. A media company run for and by young disabled people that's hoping to challenge stereotypes and promote discussion. A grand prix with a difference - why cows, and their riders, race through a small Swiss village. Plus: the newly rediscovered works of Bach that have been performed for the first time in over three hundred years. And why more men are taking up knitting. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.

This is the Happy Pod for the BBC World Service. I'm Vanessa Heaney and in this edition... I was crying, his mom was crying. It was just lovely to see him so happy and healthy. My tears could not stop. I could not stop giving her a hug. Yeah, he is an angel. A woman who donated a kidney to a stranger

has met the young boy whose life she saved. A new technology could dramatically... increase the number of available organ transplants. The impact of this product is typically increasing the number of organs that are being transplanted, something between 20 and 30%. Also, a media platform run by and for young people with disabilities that's hoping to challenge misconceptions. Plus, a Grand Prix for cows and an unusual group of knitters.

It genuinely makes it easier to go through life. having that thing to do with my hands. And it has made it so much easier for me to connect with a society. We start the program with a rare meeting between an organ donor and the young boy whose life she saved. Ali Coil had agreed to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger, and she was matched with five-year-old Xavier. It's unusual for living donors to me.

meet those who receive their organs, as very little information is shared. But Ali, who's 40 and from Northern Ireland, wrote to the boy's family and included a toy plane from the airline she works for as a pilot. They used that information to track her down and got in touch via social media. Zavia's parents, here as Zahir and Uma Saeed, who live in London, explained why it was important for them to meet her. It was a roller coaster ride for us, to be honest. Zavia previously, I remember he used to not eat well. It was a struggle for me, giving him medicines, giving him food. He was not growing properly. But after the transplant, life changed. He is here, all healthy, happy, running around. No one can tell by looking at him

that he got his kidney transplant just this year. Yeah, luckily he is like a very energetic after the transplant surgery even after the transplant a couple of months he had like a sports day and he won first prize in throwing and he said that I can run really fast after that surgery I really wanted to meet in person and thank that person when she sent a card literally my tears could not stop it was a beautiful moment to receive a card from her and then finally we were lucky enough to meet her she's part of her family and She was an angel to us, to be honest. Literally, when I met her, my tears could not stop.

I could not stop giving her a hug. Instantly, it felt like I'm meeting a sister. Yeah, he is an angel. And she is a very, very nice person, to be honest. She is very nice. You know, when we were not finding a match, we were hopeless, we were helpless. And I believe it is very, very important to spread this awareness is that one kind gesture of a person,

how it can change lives of so many people, to be honest. Literally, yeah. She just donated the kidney to my son, but it changed life of our whole family, to be honest. I cannot thank her enough for her kind gesture and for the kindness she did. She changed our life. Ali was inspired to donate her kidney

after failing to match with a friend who needed a transplant, and Xavier's father, Uma, also donated a kidney. kidney to another patient. Ali spoke to the BBC's Stephen Watson. I just thought, you know, if it was someone in my family who needed a kidney and someone could donate to them, then I would want them to do that. So I just thought, well, if I was going to donate to one person, I might as well donate to another. And how did you feel when the family got in touch? To be honest with you, I was delighted because I was very curious about them. Obviously, it's a part of my body. It's one of my organs and I was really curious to see where it had gone to.

So when they reached out and I was able to see that the little boy was really healthy and that my kidney had started working for him and that had really changed his life, I was really delighted and of course I wrote back to them and we talked back and forward and then that's when the idea of meeting up came about. It was very emotional. I was crying, his mom was crying and I think he was a little bit bewildered by all the emotion but it was just lovely to see him so happy and healthy. And it was lovely to see how much of an impact and a difference it made for their life and for them.

An emotional meeting, as you say, how did it feel seeing a young boy whose life you have helped save? It was a little bit strange. Myself and my partner were both saying that it was strange to think that part of me is inside that little boy. He was just sitting playing with his toys. And it was just strange to think that my kidney is inside him. But, yeah, it was wonderful to see him just live in a normal life. and you know he he doesn't appear any different from any other little he's six now any other six-year-old boy he just he loves dinosaurs and computer games what I mean what an amazing advert for organ donation as well

yeah to be honest with you it has had such a minimal impact on my life compared to the huge impact that it's had on his life and his family's life yes there was a few weeks of downtime after the operation but my life has gone back to normal completely I have no limitations on my life whatsoever now and he gets to live a normal life which he didn't have before Do you think you'll stay in touch with the family and watch how he grows up?

Oh yeah absolutely I plan to be there for every birthday going forward and his family have actually invited me to a family wedding next year as well so yeah it's been wonderful to connect with them and it's great now to have that relationship with them going forward as well

Ali Coil. Around the world, more than 100,000 people receive organ transplants every year. But tens of thousands of others die while waiting for these life-saving operations. Even in countries that have the right medical facilities, a lack of donors combined with problems storing and transporting organs, mean there simply aren't enough available. But a medical technology company, based here in the UK, has developed a way to preserve donated organs for longer, which can dramatically increase the number of transplants.

Claire Bowes has been finding out more. This machine keeps the liver at a normal body temperature and it feeds it blood and nutrients. The company is called organox and I spoke to the CEO Craig Marshall and Dan Fowar, the head of the laboratory. Craig, can you describe this machine for us? This machine essentially mimics our own bodies in many respects.

to keep it healthy and ready for that all-important life-saving transplant. Well, here we go, press start. Obviously, that organ has been stored at fridge temperature for some time now, so it is going to take a little bit of time for it to warm back up and come back to life, but you can see it's kind of filling with this nice... It's actually moving. It's moving ever to slightly as it takes on volume, absolutely, yes. So this is what our clinical team has experienced every day using the machine,

that kind of thrill of a liver coming back to life. Obviously, everything we're looking at is the result of years and years of research. Where did this begin, Craig? The founders of this company, they were compelled by the need to very much improve the way organs are preserved whilst they're outside the body. So what we're looking at here is the gift of time. So if an organ arrives at 6 o'clock at night and the team have been busy all day, they can now go home. rest and then they can come back fresh the next day and that's a game changer for a surgical team

so the impact of this product is typically increasing the number of organs that are being transplanted at the centres that are deploying this as the standard of care something between 20 and 30 percent so 20 to 30 percent more transplants are happening thanks to this or thanks to this product yeah There are a few benefits. First, as we've just heard, the surgical teams have more time to prepare for an operation, knowing that the machine is keeping the organ going. And second, potentially more livers can be used because the machine has a screen which shows the surgeons just how well the organ is actually performing.

David Nasrallah is a liver transplant surgeon who took part in the first clinical trial back in 2013. Right now, the decision has done. to whether to accept or decline a liver for transplantation is not scientific. It's based on lots of very soft characteristics related to the donor's history, related to just how the liver looks and feels, and it's not uncommon for on the basis of these very subjective characteristics for surgeons to make the decision that they don't feel a liver is safe to transplant. So what normothermic machine perfusion allows you to do

is to put much more hard, objective numbers into that decision-making. So it keeps it alive, we can measure it, and it improves it too? It probably improves the liver, okay? It's difficult to say definitively that it does, but what we see after the liver has been transplanted is that the way the recipients behave is as if they have received a better liver. David put me in touch with one of his patients, Lisa Pengelli. Because the liver was put on this machine,

it meant he could then monitor it and gauge how well it was performing and really be sure of it before he did the operation. And the operation went well. I remember waking up in intensive care, just feeling very sleepy, but really well. My husband commented on the colour of my eyes, which were no longer jaundice. They didn't have that yellowy tinge. Yeah, no yellowy tinge. I didn't look ill.

So 100 machines are currently being used in Europe, North America, and Australia. And the company is also developing a machine which can work on kidneys too. Claire Bow's reporting and you can hear more on people fixing the world wherever you get your BBC podcasts. We're going to take you to a village in the Swiss Alps now for our next story. Flemseberg is 1,300 metres up in the mountains above the picturesque Wallenze Lake, close to the borders with Liechtenstein. It's home to a rather unusual race which takes place every year. The annual Cow Grand Prix. I've been finding out more.

Nine female jockeys are saddled up and at the start line. And they're off. The cows and their riders hurtle past the crowds of excited onlookers. The cows are wearing bridles decorated with feathers and flowers. The latter are put on at the last minute as the cows love to eat them. 22-year-old Selena owns and trains Cobra the cow. Riding a cow is completely different from riding a horse. It's far more unpredictable and you really have to hold on tight.

You can't steer a cow, that's the big difference. And it's not nearly as comfortable as seat, which makes it quite an effort. Cobra is eight years old and already a seasoned racer. She trained beautifully, flying through the laps in practice. Now we're hoping she'll have a good run today. The race began over 20 years ago. The original idea was to put on an event for people coming to the cheese market. A few of the farmer's wives suggested a cow race with actual riders.

The men weren't keen on the idea saying it would be too difficult. That's Remo Roof. He's the organiser of the Cow Grand Prix. So the women secretly trained their own. That's why to this day only women are allowed to ride. The race is now an annual highlight, attracting around 5,000 visitors. It takes place before the snow comes. The local vets have given their blessing and the cows do two laps, hoping to win the prize,

a 40-kilo bag of feed, a traditional alpine cowbell and flowers. The cows look like they're having a good time. Every cow really takes part voluntarily. Beforehand, we select only the cows that generally seem willing to join in. For them it's fun. Sometimes during training they can actually run very.

very fast. But on race day, some of them don't feel like it at all, and that's fine. If a cow doesn't want to run, she doesn't. She simply stops and stays where she is. Cobra sped up on the first lap, but slowed down on the second, as last year's winner Viola charged through on the inside to take the crown once again. Her owner Lear raised her fist in celebration as she crossed the finish line. The most important thing isn't to win, but to take part. An unusual Grand Prix indeed. Coming up in this podcast.

Music by one of the greatest ever composers, performed. for the first time in over 300 years. Next to a Mexican-American journalist who's on a mission to make voices like hers heard. Emily Flores is the founder-editor of a media platform which is run by and for young, disabled people. It's one of a few of its kind. She's been speaking to the Happy Pod's Holly Gibbs

about the platform and why she chose what some might see as a controversial name. It's all about putting young people at the center. And I think Cripple Media in particular is all about putting young disabled people in specific in the center. So Cripple Media is the first ever media platform that's run by and for young disabled people.

So I grew up as a wheelchair user. I'm a full-time wheelchair user. And I noticed that growing up, there was a lot of unspoken misconceptions about disability. There's a disability writer that said it best. It's almost like when you meet people, it's like they're kind of reading tea leaves about your future, like, oh, it's so sad that, you know, you're going to have such a sad future. But there's really nothing sad about it. And I think that's part of the problem culturally is that disability is not seen as a cultural identity.

And the reason why we named it cripple media was 90% of it was a straight up value from our generation, which is that Gen Z is unafraid to kind of change narrative. and confront hard realities. What would you say to the people who don't get it? I think it's okay to, you know, initially be maybe a little confused, maybe a little put off, but honestly what I would want to invite is curiosity. It's also totally normal to be scared or to be uncomfortable when meeting a disabled person for the first time because I think it's totally natural for somebody to, you know, be scared of something that they've never, of something different.

But I think what follows after that, it's important to foster curiosity to kind of lead with questions rather than assumptions. Representation is so important. It changes the way that we think. It changes the way we treat each other. And I think when we see different types of bodies, different communities, different identities on TV, it really changes the way that we think of other people. Why journalism and what barriers did you overcome to get into the position that you're in? I actually came through journalism, through One Direction. So it all started from the boy band One Direction. I was about like probably 11 years old and my hyperfixation was them. You know, I loved reading and writing.

That's all I knew. I actually started a fan page. I had like 20K followers. Throughout that era, I started to learn about, like, you know, running and building a community, like, what that meant. So when I was, like, 14, I was like, honestly, that's all the experience I have. But I want a job. And I just started to look up, maybe, like, writing jobs for young people or teens. I found one posting that they were looking for writers.

And I applied. I said that that was my experience. And I got it. As far as for what barriers I overcame, I think it was really all about trying to get people to understand why disability was an important point of view and why was, you know, something important to be said. You know, a lot of people also were struggling to understand, you know, what were the types of stories that I wanted to tell about disability. It wasn't that I wanted to say, it's so sad and it's, you know, this story of like this family that has a disabled child, like, oh, look how cute. that's not the stories that I wanted to pitch. So really trying to kind of, you know, make other people understand that

and therefore also have that come through through my reporting and storytelling with something to be learned. This is the happy pod. Yes. What makes you happy? Young people. And hope. Not one direction.

Yes, but it's complicated. Emily Flores speaking to Holly Gibbs. Johann Sebastian Bach is widely regarded as one of the the most important figures in musical history. To many, he's the single greatest composer of all time. So imagine the excitement when two recently rediscovered works were confirmed as having been written by a young Bach at the start of the 18th century in Germany. Earlier this week, the two pieces for organ were performed for the first time in more than 300 years at St Thomas Church in Leipzig, where the composer is buried. Peter Wulney is the director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig

and authenticated the works. I was very surprised to hear these pieces for the first time also. These are very early pieces, but wrote them when he was 17 or 18 years old. But still you could feel that there was a young musician who was trying to find his own personal voice in music. I saw the manuscripts, actually, in the summer of 1992 for the first time, and somehow they attracted my attention,

so I ordered photocopies in the library, in Brassels, actually, took them home, And since then, I have been trying to find out more about the pieces, about the manuscripts. And it took more than 30 years before I was able to say these pieces were written down by Bach's first student in Arnstadt, around 1705. And when I was certain about this, I could also say the certain musical or four, anomalies in these pieces, that they are not mainstream, they are very special, and that these special elements must come from J.S. Bach's. I think we understand better now that the young J.S. Bach was trying to accumulate as much musical knowledge as he could by studying the pieces of other composers. And at the same time,

time, he was trying to use the elements that he saw in other composers' works to create his unique language. When we listen to the D minor Tokata that you played first, we have this language right there. We know from the first note that this can only be jazz bark. to the far north of Scotland next and the Shetlands, which recently hosted a group of men from America on a knitting trip. They were among thousands of people who flocked to the islands every year to learn about their knitting heritage. Andrea Rassikova has been speaking to some of the men who joined the trip.

Quick-knit reminders with Yarn Dragon. This is Pearl Through the Back Loop. Starting first with the yarn in our right hand to Pearl Through the Back Loop. This is Jonathan Berner, a content creator from Seattle, better known as the Yarned Dragon. He says that knitting has introduced him to something spectacular. I was relatively newly sober. I was going to lots of 12-step meetings and painfully listening to the same guy tell his story for the 72nd time, you know, and thought that knitting would be a good way to occupy myself in those meetings. But man, I fell in love with the engineering and the

history and certainly that fidget spinner aspect. I mean, it genuinely makes it easier to go through life having that thing to do with my hands. And it has made it so much easier for me to connect with a society. Jonathan joined 24 other men from different states in the U.S. on a journey to Shetland, more than 8,000 kilometers away from their home. It's a place renowned for its wool, knitting patterns and techniques, and somewhere the group described as the holy place for knitters. We talk about wool being part of a culture, but in Shetland, wool is the people. And the people are wool, and the land is made for yarn.

And the people have merged with this land in an incredibly beautiful way that, man, it got into my blood. It's just an incredible place. The group were treated to a traditional fair aisle knitting class, learned about Chitland's history, and even visited local crofters to see how raw wool is turned into yarn. Friends Michael Wade and Chuck Wilmisher Jr., who organized a trip, had been inspired by smaller knitting retreats set up in the US. Men felt kind of separated and a bit tokenized or marginalized,

because they were the only guy in their knitting circle. And so the retreats were a great way for men from various kind of walks of life to come together and talk about why they love knitting and why it's soothing and why it's creative and inspiring. Like Michael said, I used to be the token guy at my local yarn shop and just going to a retreat or on a trip with 25 other guys who love what you. love and enjoy what you enjoy is just magical and then take it to somewhere like Shetland and it is just, it's just beyond. They both have noticed that more and more men are picking up fiber crafts, mainly during the coronavirus pandemic and thanks to video tutorials on social media.

But Micah believes this popularity boom should go even further. I think more men should knit because it makes you slow down. It builds paste. It builds patience. It makes you think about the world in different ways. And it makes you empathetic to the fact that knitting things is not easy. And it sort of makes you have appreciation for how difficult it is to create a garment. So I think the world would be better if more men knit. Michael Wade, ending that report by Andrea Rasekova. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. If you have a a story you think we should include or you'd like to comment on anything in this episode,

we'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is Global Podcast at BBC.com.uk. And you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the Happy Pod. This edition was mixed by Rebecca Miller and the producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Vanessa Heaney. Until next time, goodbye. Thank you.