The Happy Pod: Donating my kidney transformed a child's life
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.2 • 7.8K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | This is the Happy Pod for the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.6 | I'm Vanessa Heaney and in this edition... |
| 0:16.4 | I was crying, his mom was crying. |
| 0:18.7 | It was just lovely to see him so happy and healthy. |
| 0:22.2 | My tears could not stop. I could not stop giving her a hug. Yeah, he is an angel. |
| 0:28.3 | A woman who donated a kidney to a stranger has met the young boy whose life she saved. |
| 0:34.4 | A new technology could dramatically increase the number of available organ transplants. |
| 0:39.4 | The impact of this product is typically increasing the number of organs that are being transplanted, |
| 0:46.8 | something between 20 and 30%. Also, a media platform run by and for young people with disabilities |
| 0:54.1 | that's hoping to challenge misconceptions. Plus, a media platform run by and for young people with disabilities that's hoping to challenge misconceptions. |
| 0:57.1 | Plus, a Grand Prix for cows and an unusual group of knitters. |
| 1:02.4 | It genuinely makes it easier to go through life having that thing to do with my hands. |
| 1:09.7 | And it has made it so much easier for me to connect with a society. |
| 1:20.5 | We start the program with a rare meeting between an organ donor and the young boy whose life she saved. |
| 1:27.3 | Ali Coil had agreed to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger, |
| 1:31.3 | and she was matched with five-year-old Xavier. |
| 1:34.2 | It's unusual for living donors to meet those who receive their organs, |
| 1:37.9 | as very little information is shared. |
| 1:40.2 | But Ali, who's 40 and from Northern Ireland, wrote to the boy's family |
| 1:44.0 | and included a toy plane from the airline she works for as a pilot. |
| 1:48.3 | They used that information to track her down and got in touch via social media. |
... |
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