A dying woman’s chance for a live-saving operation has been blocked... because her mum has been banned from coming to Britain to donate her a kidney.
Fallowfield mum Rasha Abdalla desperately needs a transplant after her body rejected a donor organ two-years-ago.
The 36-year-old NHS worker says a kidney from her Sudanese mother Nimat Salih is her only chance of survival - but she isn’t allowed into the UK because of an issue with bungled passport details.
Mum-of-two Rasha, a GP practice manager fromandnbsp;http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/all-about/fallowfieldFallowfieldandnbsp;, had a transplant in Egypt in 2004 after one of her kidneys failed.
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A decade later, her body rejected it - and she had to go on dialysis.
Medics told her the chance of finding another suitable kidney would be slim because of the increased levels of antibodies in her system which caused the failure.
She was handed a lifeline after mother Nimat, 63, was tested in Sudan and proved a match.
Rasha, who was born in Scotland and lived abroad until returning to the UK in 2001, applied for a visa for her mother in November 2014. Nimat had entered the UK with no problems previously.
But the application was refused a month later after Home Office officials said they could not match Nimat’s date of birth with a previous visa application.
Rasha’s mother entered the UK in 2004 with a Sudanese passport.
It was issued with the wrong date of birth after Rasha’s uncle filled in an application form incorrectly.
Nimat was able to enter the country twice despite the passport not matching her birth certificate.
She lost that passport, and now has one with her correct birth date, which she used to apply for her latest trip.
Watch: Rasha speaks about her ordeal
But Home Office officials turned the visa application down because of the inconsistencies.
Rasha appealed the decision at the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, which ruled in the family’s favour in February.
The Home Office saw an appeal to that decision knocked back - but has since filed another with the Upper Tier Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
Rasha is surviving purely because of dialysis, but says her life expectancy is getting shorter by the day.
She told the M.E.N: “This is the last chance I have for a decent life. Every day my mother isn’t allowed into the UK, my life expectancy gets shorter.
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“I don’t have all the time in the world. This is all because of an issue with my mother’s passport - it’s crazy.
“This is the only chance I have of a transplant. My chances of a long life are getting slimmer and slimmer. These people are heartless.”
A Home Office Spokesperson said: “All cases are carefully considered on their individual merits and the onus is on the individual to provide the necessary supporting evidence to meet the UK immigration rules.
“An individual who is visiting as a donor must have a covering letter from the lead nurse or coordinator of the UK’s NHS Trust’s Living Donor kidney Transplant team or UK registered medical practitioner who holds an NHS consultant post or who appears in the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council, within three months of an intended visit.”