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Kidney transplant film wins children’s BAFTA
A BBC documentary that followed the heartwarming story of how a father was donating his kidney to save his son’s life has won a BAFTA award.
Raphael Havard, of Bedford, who was nine at the time, nearly died when he developed a one-in-a-million medical condition which destroyed his kidneys and left him fighting for his life.
But his dad Duane stepped forward and donated his kidney to give his son the chance of a life.
The strong story was commissioned by the BBC’s children’s department for CBBC’s highly acclaimed My Life documentary series, and the resulting film has won Manchester-based Nine Lives Media its first BAFTA award.
Dad Duane, 52, said: “We couldn’t be at the ceremony but the executive producer texted us as soon as they found out they had won. We are over the moon that it has won a BAFTA, as one of our main reasons for doing the show was to help other children.
“When the film first came out we knew it was a pretty big deal, it told the story through Raphael’s eyes.
“For me to be in hospital was pretty scary but for a child it must be petrifying, so if this helps other children going through what Raphael did then it’s fantastic.”
The film Me, My Dad And His Kidney, was produced and directed by documentary maker Rachael Smith, whose father Stephen lives in Bedford and is a former Bedford Modern School headteacher.
The documentary is now being used by a number of children’s hospitals including Great Ormond Street, to prepare children for transplant surgery.
The production company Nine Lives Media won the Best Factual Children’s Programe in the children’s BAFTAS, which was presented to them at a ceremony at the end of last month.
Stephen Smith said: “I’m really proud of Rachael. Nine Lives Media is a fairly small production company, so it’s done really well to get a BAFTA.
“The production staff all stayed at my house during the filming, so I felt quite involved in the whole thing.”
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Wednesday 19 June 2013
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