Peach Pit's Neil Smith Donates A Kidney To His Cousin

You can’t fault Peach Pit singer and guitarist Neil Smith for taking it easy over the holiday period, with the musician taking to socials recently to reveal he’s down one kidney after donating to his cousin.

Telling fans he’s been “chilling extra hard these past few weeks” due to the recent surgery, Smith explained that he donated the kidney to his 28-year-old cousin SJ, who had been on dialysis for five years following an unexpected diagnosis of kidney failure.

“Luckily we come from a very close family so there was no shortage of relatives willing to step up and get tested to see if they were eligible to be kidney donors,” he explained.

“Before me, all of SJ’s immediate family was tested and then our cousin Kim but for one reason or another (usually due to kidneys being too small or simply a blood vessel not being the right size for transplant) everyone was rejected,” he added. “I was next to get tested and because I’m fortunate enough to be of good health and with two symmetrical kidneys I was approved for donation.”

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As he continued, Smith admitted he was indeed rather nervous about the surgery, but conceded that Toronto’s St Michael’s Hospital made the producer a surprisingly quick one, while also advocating for anyone interested in becoming a donor to do so if they’re able.

“Kidney donation is mostly done laparoscopically (through tiny holes using robotic arms 🤖) which means that recovery is much faster than it used to be,” he added. “All in all, it was a quick 3 hour surgery and in the blink of an eye I was in the recovery room waiting to hear how SJ’s transplant was.

“It was a huge success and my kidney started working for SJ immediately! SJ and I are two weeks post-op now and doing great, I’m healing up super fast and the kidney continues to get stronger everyday for SJ.”

Presumably, the recovery process will not impact Peach Pit’s upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, which takesplace in February – just 16 months on from their debut visit to our shores as part of the Yours & Owls festival. Tickets to all dates are on sale now.