Oliver Broderick was born in November 1972. Four months later he was diagnosed with renal failure. At the age of eleven he started kidney dialysis. Since this time he has had two transplant operations, in 1984 and 1986, both of which sadly failed. He now requires dialysis three times a week, has extreme diet and fluid restrictions, and takes numerous drugs for his survival.

Despite his illness, Oliver became involved in charity work and helping others, and in 1985 appeared with Esther Rantzen in "Children of Courage" for the "Children in Need" Appeal and in 1986 in "Kilroy"

Having raised nearly £2,000 for kidney research at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, over £1,000 for the Cambridge Children's Kidney Care Fund, £1,780 for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, £300.00 for pagers for home dialysis support staff in Cambridge, he also raised £1,800 towards an AVL Blood Electrolyte Analyser. This is of great value for all the patients as immediate action can be taken on the dialysis ward. The " WALK FOR LIFE " in October 2000, which he organised as a millennium project in his village, to raise awareness of the NATIONAL ORGAN DONOR REGISTER for transplants, raised an amazing £1,545.53 for the Addenbrooke's Dialysis Centre. The money was used to purchase a special scale to wheel on patients in wheelchairs, which means less agony for them and also saves the nurses' backs! The remaining funds were invested in an ice-making machine for patients who are very restricted in fluid intake and use the ice cubes to quench their thirst. More recent fundraising resulted in £1,500 for the Dialysis Centre at Raigmore Hospital Inverness towards a Satellite T.V. system, to help patients past the time while having boring dialysis!

Although he was particularly unlucky in his transplants, Oliver would like everybody to know that these usually do work and can change life dramatically overnight. He is hoping desperately for a successful transplant and is appealing to everybody to discuss donating organs. Oliver's main motive for fundraising is to create awareness of the NHS Organ Donor Register (Telephone 0845 6060400). Many people think organ transplants have nothing to do with them because they are healthy, but they should realise that even a flu virus, throat infection or heart attack can cause irreparable kidney damage, leading to dialysis and the necessity of a transplant. In 1986 Oliver took part in a "Kilroy" Show discussing organ donation. It was very encouraging to hear that all relatives of donors were glad to have given permission for transplants as they felt that some good had come out of their tragic loss and in some way their loved one was living on.