The bestselling author Sue Townsend recently went through a live saving kidney transplant, which lasted a grueling 8 hours, after her son, Sean, decided to donate the organ to help his ailing mother.

For the first time, the author has revealed how the operation has managed to give her new hope, after having struggled with regular dialysis over the past 2 years.

The transplant, although life saving for Townsend, was not without its set to complications, especially since the author's body first rejected the donor kidney, and the subsequent infection forced the 63 year old to come back to the hospital 17 time in a mere week.

That is when Sean, the eldest of Townsend's four children, stepped forward to help his mother, as both her kidneys threatened to give away due to long-term diabetes.

"[My kidneys] had been going downhill for five years. I had got down to about 5% function. Behind my back, the family got together and decided that one would donate one of their own [kidneys]", shared Townsend.

Sean is currently 44 years old, and a science writer, and he was deemed as the most appropriate donor for his mother after a series of health, heart, kidney and psychological tests. There was simply no question about donating my kidney as I was the best match", he said.