JENNY Dale is used to some strong reactions when people find out that she sacrificed one of her kidneys for the sake of someone she had never met.

“I’ve been told I’m really selfish because of putting my family through me having surgery when it wasn’t needed,” she said.

“I was happy that the risks were minimal and I was in good hands.

“Along the same lines is: ‘What if you or one of your family needs a kidney?’ The chances are I probably won’t because they check your family history thoroughly. And my two sisters have already offered a kidney if I or my children need one.”

Mother of two Jenny, 46, of Iford, Bournemouth, first read about altruistic kidney donation on a BBC website.

She found that since the procedure was legalised in 2006, a few people had donated one of their kidneys to a complete stranger, transforming or possibly saving their lives.

“I thought: ‘I could do that. I’ll make an inquiry’. I thought they would write me off straight away because I’d had a blood transfusion in the past.”

After contacting Bristol, Jenny was given an appointment with the transplant co-ordinator and surgeon, who talked her through what was involved and asked if she wanted to be assessed.

She had to undergo rigorous tests, and at every stage – including just before she went under anaesthetic – she was given the chance to back out.

“Your health has to be top-notch. The approval came through in January and I was matched really quickly to a potential recipient.

“It was so exciting, but I was really conscious I was only baby-sitting the kidney – and of everything I ate and drank.”

Sadly the first potential recipient became too ill for surgery. “That’s when it hit home that there was a person at the end of it.”

But Jenny, who works for Dorset Police, was quickly matched with a man in his 20s, and the operation went ahead on February 25.

She was only the fourth altruistic donor at the Bristol transplant unit, the first woman – and the first person from Dorset.

She was left with a 10-inch long scar on her abdomen and had to stay in hospital nine days – longer than the recipient, who is now back at work.

“I know his first name, his age, and the area where the kidney was transplanted. He’s doing really well. If he wanted to meet, I would be happy to do so,” said Jenny. Around 1,000 kidneys are transplanted in the UK every year. Most – about 800 – come from friends or relatives of the recipient and only about 40 from altruistic donors such as Jenny, although numbers have risen steadily over the last four years.

About three of the 8,000 people awaiting a kidney die each day so Jenny is hoping others will follow her example.

“Lots of people have said they would give to family or a friend, but why save it if someone needs it now? Knowing you have transformed or saved someone’s life is amazing,” she said.

Before the operation, she was assessed as having a healthy 86 per cent kidney function. Now she’s at 53 per cent. “People don’t go on dialysis until they are down to nine per cent or lower. It takes about a year for the remaining kidney to take over,” she explained.

She has been given the all-clear to tackle a 500 kilometre sponsored bike ride from London to Paris in September.

Jenny will be accompanied by her sister Wendy Powell, of Bitterne, Southampton, and their 17-year-old nephew Tom Kelly, a student at Ferndown Upper School. All the money they raise will go to Transplant Links, a charity set up to save the lives of people in developing countries who suffer from chronic kidney disease.

The trio can be sponsored through justgiving.com/jenny-dale or justgiving.com/wendypowell