A leading British poet who is dying of kidney failure is appealing for a donor to come forward after doctors warned that he does not have long left. Award-winning writer Hugo Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has to endure gruelling dialysis three times a week for four hours a time. His desperate family has now started a Facebook campaign to find a matching donor who can give the 72-year-old poet his quality of life back. Poet Hugo Williams is appealing for a kidney donor to come forward as he is dying of kidney failure . Mr Williams, the brother of Upstairs Downstairs actor Simon Williams, has also offered to immortalise the kindness of the donor in verse. The T.S. Eliot prize winner said: ‘Anything would be better than feeling like this. I’m tired of living this life. I have to be at a certain level of fitness to be eligible for a transplant and my health is declining. ‘It’s just a guess, but the next three months are likely to be crucial. In reality, we don’t know how long it will be. ‘I’m just worried that this transplant won’t come off. I desperately need to find a donor. Time is running out.’ His daughter Murphy Williams, 45, of Cornwall, said: ‘My nagging, unspoken fear is that my father will die on the waiting list, well before his time. He was healthy and active before the dialysis. ‘Every time he doesn’t pick up the phone, my family and I go into an awful panic, thinking the worst. The fear is always there. Mr Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has been warned time is running out to find him a donor. His family has set up a Facebook page to help find him a new kidney (pictured) ‘I feel like he deserves a lot more life and shouldn’t be going through this. It would just be awful if he was condemned to this limbo life.’ Mr Williams, the son of actor Hugh Williams and the model and actress Margaret Vyner, attended Eton College and has won many poetry prizes. He has written a collection of poems called From the Dialysis Ward detailing his suffering, some of which have been nominated for the Forward poetry prize. A new collection, I Knew the Bride, has just been published. The poet was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has been on dialysis ever since while he waits for a kidney transplant. But there are just 3,000 kidney transplants each year and roughly 6,000 people on the waiting list, according to Kidney Research UK. His daughter said: ‘My father is not coping well on dialysis. Mr Williams' family are worried he will die waiting for a kidney because he will soon be too weak for surgery . ‘It’s very much a half-life. You’re . just waiting and you’re not able to live. The waiting list is getting . longer and longer. It used to be two to three years.’ Mrs . Williams, who runs a luxury marshmallow company, added: ‘It’s a huge . change to his life and he’s had lots of bad reactions to the treatment. The main thing is that it saps your energy and makes you very weak. He . has a diminished quality of life,’ she said. ‘He’s led such a healthy life and he’s always been fit and trim and eaten healthily. ‘My . father is a poet. He’s incredibly sensitive and fragile. He’s also . sociable and he likes living his life and this is a just a shell of a . life and he is depressed. ‘He’s . not the same and he knows he’s not the same. I would just love to get . my dad back. I want him to come to Cornwall to visit his grandchildren . who adore him. Mr Williams is married to art curator Hermine Demoriane, 71, who lives between Britain and France, and the pair have one daughter together. Miss Demoriane, who uses her maiden name, launched a Facebook and Twitter campaign to track down a donor three weeks ago and the page already has a thousand followers. The T.S. Eliot prize winner said: 'Anything would be better than feeling like this. I'm tired of living this life' She is also trying to arrange a cross . match with another donor, so she can donate her kidney to a person who . has a healthy relative or friend who is able to donate to Mr Williams. Peter . Storey, of Kidney Research UK, said: ‘Around 6,000 people are waiting . for a kidney but fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year. ‘The prevalence of patients presenting with kidney failure is increasing steadily by four per cent each year. Many people who could benefit from a kidney transplant remain on dialysis, which offers a restricted quality of life. And sadly, around one person a day dies whilst waiting. ‘There is currently no cure for kidney diseases, so early detection is vital to provide any chance of halting, preventing or reversing the damage to the kidney caused by the disease. ‘However, the signs are often difficult to spot which is why the disease is often referred to as the “silent killer” and many patients go undiagnosed until their kidneys completely fail.’ The Facebook page can be found at facebook.com/hugowilliamskidney and the Twitter hashtag is #teamhugo .
Hugo Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure more than two years ago .
He has to have dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time .
He has been warned that time is running out to find him a donor .
His family are worried that he will die waiting for a new kidney .
A leading British poet who is dying of kidney failure is appealing for a donor to come forward after doctors warned that he does not have long left. Award-winning writer Hugo Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has to endure gruelling dialysis three times a week for four hours a time. His desperate family has now started a Facebook campaign to find a matching donor who can give the 72-year-old poet his quality of life back. Poet Hugo Williams is appealing for a kidney donor to come forward as he is dying of kidney failure . Mr Williams, the brother of Upstairs Downstairs actor Simon Williams, has also offered to immortalise the kindness of the donor in verse. The T.S. Eliot prize winner said: ‘Anything would be better than feeling like this. I’m tired of living this life. I have to be at a certain level of fitness to be eligible for a transplant and my health is declining. ‘It’s just a guess, but the next three months are likely to be crucial. In reality, we don’t know how long it will be. ‘I’m just worried that this transplant won’t come off. I desperately need to find a donor. Time is running out.’ His daughter Murphy Williams, 45, of Cornwall, said: ‘My nagging, unspoken fear is that my father will die on the waiting list, well before his time. He was healthy and active before the dialysis. ‘Every time he doesn’t pick up the phone, my family and I go into an awful panic, thinking the worst. The fear is always there. Mr Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has been warned time is running out to find him a donor. His family has set up a Facebook page to help find him a new kidney (pictured) ‘I feel like he deserves a lot more life and shouldn’t be going through this. It would just be awful if he was condemned to this limbo life.’ Mr Williams, the son of actor Hugh Williams and the model and actress Margaret Vyner, attended Eton College and has won many poetry prizes. He has written a collection of poems called From the Dialysis Ward detailing his suffering, some of which have been nominated for the Forward poetry prize. A new collection, I Knew the Bride, has just been published. The poet was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has been on dialysis ever since while he waits for a kidney transplant. But there are just 3,000 kidney transplants each year and roughly 6,000 people on the waiting list, according to Kidney Research UK. His daughter said: ‘My father is not coping well on dialysis. Mr Williams' family are worried he will die waiting for a kidney because he will soon be too weak for surgery . ‘It’s very much a half-life. You’re . just waiting and you’re not able to live. The waiting list is getting . longer and longer. It used to be two to three years.’ Mrs . Williams, who runs a luxury marshmallow company, added: ‘It’s a huge . change to his life and he’s had lots of bad reactions to the treatment. The main thing is that it saps your energy and makes you very weak. He . has a diminished quality of life,’ she said. ‘He’s led such a healthy life and he’s always been fit and trim and eaten healthily. ‘My . father is a poet. He’s incredibly sensitive and fragile. He’s also . sociable and he likes living his life and this is a just a shell of a . life and he is depressed. ‘He’s . not the same and he knows he’s not the same. I would just love to get . my dad back. I want him to come to Cornwall to visit his grandchildren . who adore him. Mr Williams is married to art curator Hermine Demoriane, 71, who lives between Britain and France, and the pair have one daughter together. Miss Demoriane, who uses her maiden name, launched a Facebook and Twitter campaign to track down a donor three weeks ago and the page already has a thousand followers. The T.S. Eliot prize winner said: 'Anything would be better than feeling like this. I'm tired of living this life' She is also trying to arrange a cross . match with another donor, so she can donate her kidney to a person who . has a healthy relative or friend who is able to donate to Mr Williams. Peter . Storey, of Kidney Research UK, said: ‘Around 6,000 people are waiting . for a kidney but fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year. ‘The prevalence of patients presenting with kidney failure is increasing steadily by four per cent each year. Many people who could benefit from a kidney transplant remain on dialysis, which offers a restricted quality of life. And sadly, around one person a day dies whilst waiting. ‘There is currently no cure for kidney diseases, so early detection is vital to provide any chance of halting, preventing or reversing the damage to the kidney caused by the disease. ‘However, the signs are often difficult to spot which is why the disease is often referred to as the “silent killer” and many patients go undiagnosed until their kidneys completely fail.’ The Facebook page can be found at facebook.com/hugowilliamskidney and the Twitter hashtag is #teamhugo .
left. Award-winning writer Hugo Williams was diagnosed with kidney failure two-and-a-half three times a week for four hours a time. His with kidney failure two-and-a-half years ago and has been warned time is running out to find him a well on dialysis. Mr Williams' family are worried he will die waiting for a kidney because he will