A mother from Oxford has been given a date when she can donate a kidney to save her son.

Diana Berry, 52, a barmaid at Summertown’s Grove House Club, cannot donate an organ directly to son Matt Trinder, 24, because their blood types are not compatible.

Instead, they are signed up to a pioneering exchange programme which allows her to donate an organ to another person in need of a kidney, whose friend or relative will in turn donate one to Matt.

And on April 17, they will become the first people from the county to take part in the scheme, which was only made possible two years ago after laws were passed allowing live donations from strangers.

Ms Berry said: “I was over the moon when I found out. I’ll be scared on the day, but not at the moment. I’m just very excited, but Matthew’s very nervous about it all.

“We were lucky we found someone so quickly. We could have been waiting years.”

Mr Trinder, 24, needs dialysis because he suffers from a disease called IgA Nephropathy, a kidney disorder that occurs when IgA – a protein that helps the body fight infections – settles in the kidneys.

The Paired Exchange Programme increases the ability of potential kidney transplant recipients to receive kidney donations from living donors when they have a willing, designated donor whose blood type is incompatible to their own.

In an exchange, a kidney from such a donor is matched and transplanted into the recipient of a second donor-patient pair, and vice versa.

To sign the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit uktransplant.org.uk or call 0845 606 0400.