Mark Rogers gave his best friend Ian Padget the ultimate birthday present this year — his kidney

A man has given the ultimate birthday gift to his best friend of over a decade – a live organ.

Mark Rogers gave his best friend the ultimate birthday present this year – his kidney.

“I told him ‘I can’t gift wrap it but here you go’,” he said.

Ian Padget, 57, has been in kidney failure for just over a year and has been on dialysis three days a week for four hours a day before he underwent a transplant in February this year.

Mr Rogers, who is a retired nurse, helped his best friend with the needles and sat with him for company until one day he decided, while driving home, he was going to donate his kidney.

“It’s about doing something that’s right,” the 65-year-old said.

“Anybody would do it if it was for the right person, whether you would do it for your husband, whether you’d do it for your children, whether you’d do it for a child, or whether you’d do it for a complete stranger, it’s something that’s from within you.”

It is DonateLife Week from Sunday, July 28 to August 4. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mark Rogers and Ian Padget met at church 12 years ago and have been best friends ever since.

When 57-year-old Adelaide engineer Mr Padget desperately needed a kidney transplant, Mr Rogers didn’t hesitate to undergo the extensive testing to see if his was viable for a live donation.

After months of testing, he found out he was a match.

“I was so excited,” he said.

“It felt euphoric because there was a moment where I just thought, this is meant to be, and that’s why Ian and I have known each other for so long.”

On February 7, the day before Mr Padget’s birthday he received a new kidney.

For Mr Padget, who suffered with polycystic kidneys, he said “thank you is not really enough”.

“If you don’t have your dialysis, you basically die,” Mr Padget said.

By giving his kidney to Mr Padget, Mr Rogers gave him a chance to live without needing to hook himself to the machine for four hours, three days a week.

Mark Rogers decided to donate his kidney to his best friend of 12 years, Ian Padget in February of this year. Picture: Supplied

Organ and tissue authority CEO Lucinda Barry AM said “living kidney donation can be the best option for a person with kidney failure to receive a transplant”.

“This is often donated from a family member, a partner or a close friend,” she said.

“In Australia last year there were 253 living kidney donors – giving the ultimate gift.

“Organ and tissue donation gives people a second chance at life. And that’s what DonateLife Week is all about – raising awareness to encourage more Australians to register as organ and tissue donors.

“It only takes one minute to register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelife.gov.au or with three taps on your Express Plus Medicare app. And don’t forget to tell your family you want to be a donor.”

Mr Padget’s mum died of kidney failure herself and since she died he has become a donor

“The rest of my body is fine apart from my kidneys,” he said.

“It’s become more important because … I’ve seen the benefit that it gives other people.”

It is DonateLife Week Sunday July 28 to Sunday August 4.

Originally published as Mark Rogers gave his best friend Ian Padget the ultimate birthday present this year — his kidney