Taylor Swift fan, 16, gets to see idol in concert thanks to once-in-a-lifetime gift

Taylor Swift fan Keisha Martin was saved from a cruel summer – after a bone marrow donor helped her fight off a life-threatening illness in time to see her idol in concert.

Keisha spent a and her 16th birthday in hospital 200 miles from home in an agonising six-month wait for a suitable match to be found. In the end, due to a shortage of donors in the UK, it was an unnamed German man whose tissue enabled the op to go ahead at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne. And as she battled back to health, Keisha was overjoyed when doctors approved week­end leave to let her see Taylor at Anfield.

Her mum Laura, 43, said: “She wanted it done as soon as possible as we had tickets to see Taylor.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

“It was a case of her taking medication, getting her to eat again and making sure she was well enough to go.”

Now Laura is raising awareness of the need for organ and tissue donors, under pressure from a rise in demand despite a switch five years ago to opting out, triggered by the ’s Change the Law for Life campaign.

Laura, from Flint in North Wales, said: “The Anthony Nolan charity managed to find a bone marrow match for her. We know it was a man in his 20s from Germany.

“So many come from abroad, it shows the need for donors here in the UK.”

Laura told how Keisha had suffered a string of debilitating infections since childhood until worried doctors sent a blood sample to the team at Newcastle.

She said: “A doctor told us without a transplant she’d not survive 10 years.

“Another chest infection could have killed her as her immune system wasn’t working. The donor saved her life.”

Laura, full-time carer for Keisha’s sister Lili Mai, 14, said the transplant was in January last year, and the family went to see Taylor five months later.

She and husband Ross, 49, praised the charity The Sick Children’s Trust, whose Crawford House gives families support and a place to stay near the hospital.

Keisha – now 17 and set to start a childcare course in Wrexham in September – said: “Knowing my mum was five minutes away made a big difference, especially on days I was sick or upset.”

Max and Keira’s Law, which assumes consent for donation unless a person opted out, came into force on May 20, 2020. It was named after campaigner Max John­son, of Winsford, Cheshire, who was given the heart of Keira Ball, from Devon, who died in a road accident.