Kidney auction father keeps organ

Alice was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was a year old

A man who offered to auction his kidney to help his handicapped daughter has seen her start at a special school and now no longer needs to sell the organ.

In December, Peter Randall from Sevenoaks put a price of £50,000 on his kidney on the Ebay auction website.

He hoped to pay for medical treatment and education for his daughter Alice, six, who has cerebral palsy.

Donations raised enough to pay the £57,000 annual fee and, on Monday, Alice started school in West Sussex.

It means I do not have to go under the knife and Alice got what we wanted for her in the first place Peter Randall

Mr Randall was threatened with prosecution and his advert was removed after Ebay said the sale of human organs was banned.

Bids came in from the United States offering as much as £80,000 for the organ.

Mr Randall had said he did not want to sell the kidney but he could see no other option.

A donation of £30,000 from the Maidstone Spastics Association meant the 49-year-old did not have to go ahead with the sale.

Peter Randall says Alice's treatment has already cost £30,000

Alice has now started at Ingfield Manor School near Billingshurst which offers primary school education as well as specialist movement skills to help her walk.

Mr Randall said: "There have been a lot of good people out there who have insisted I do not go ahead with selling my kidney.

"These are the people that have raised this amount of money for us.

"So there are a lot of people out there who have worked very hard and of course it means I do not have to go under the knife and Alice got what we wanted for her in the first place."

Alice's education costs about £150 a day and although the fees for one year have been paid, funding for next year's schooling is still uncertain.

Alice was born prematurely at 26 weeks and only just survived.

When she was a year old she was diagnosed with having cerebral palsy.

Her parents had already spent about £30,000 on the treatment to stimulate her limbs before Mr Randall came up with the idea to sell his kidney.