BRAVE Adam Bhaiji has been given the gift of life.

The 16-year-old suffers from serious kidney problems and has been on the transplant waiting list for three years.

But then came the call the Canon Slade pupil’s family had been desperately praying for — a donor match had been found.

After a four-and-a-half hour transplant operation, Adam is now recovering in Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and his proud mother says he is “so grateful”.

Rehana Patel, Adam’s mother, said: “Adam and the family want to send a letter to the donor’s family.

We can’t thank them enough. It is such a big gift — it’s a gift of life. We always hoped we would get a kidney for Adam. We never said never and hoped it would come eventually.

We never gave up hope.

“When Adam was on dialysis he would see people get a kidney within half a year and he has said “it’s never coming”. He is so grateful.”

Adam was diagnosed with kidney problems just after he was born.

He started dialysis in April, 2010, after losing weight — a telltale sign of kidney failure — when he went into renal failure.

The A-level student had to have dialysis for four hours, three times a week.

But when the call finally came that a donor had been found, Adam could not believe it — and carried on with his school studies. Mrs Patel, of Allendale Gardens, off Blackburn Road, Halliwell, said: “The phone call came at 10pm and when the woman from the children’s hospital said ‘we have a kidney’, I asked if I had heard right. My eldest child, Nazneen went upstairs and told Adam.

“He carried on revising. I went up after and he thought we were winding him up then said ‘I have an examination in the morning and my course work is due in’. I think it was taking a while to sink in. He was being really calm and didn’t want to get too excited.

I was the one flapping.”

The family went straight to hospital and Adam underwent surgery the following day — March 20.

Mrs Patel, an administration assistant at St Matthew’s Primary School in Kentford Road, Halliwell, and her husband, Ismail, were told the donor had come from outside of Manchester and was a “good kidney” — they did not need any more answers.

Adam does not know how long he will have to be off school but is eager to get back to his friends and studies.

And the brave teenager is now wondering what he will do with his extra time after becoming used to having dialysis regularly.

His family have been unable to travel abroad since Adam was eight, when they were granted permission from doctors to go to Saudi Arabia for a holiday.

Last year Adam received an education achievement award at the Fusion Awards in Blackburn due to his determination to do well at school despite his illness.

Staff from University of Central Lancashire offered him a conditional offer to study engineering after he said he would like to study the subject at university.

Award sponsor BAE systems invited Adam to see the firm’s Salmesbury and Warton plants.

Due to building up good contacts at UCLAN and BAE systems, he emailed them from his hospital bed to tell them he had received a transplant and was responding well.

People can sign up to become an organ donor visit organdonation.nhs.uk