A KART racer and former Royal Engineer has decided to donate a kidney to a fellow racer to allow him to continue to race after his own career was cut short by injury.
Simon Pendlebury, 29, had his heart set on the military since leaving school, and said he struggled to come to terms with the news that he would have to find another career after an injury led to him being discharged in 2009.
When he saw kart racer Steve Johnson going through a similar situation, not being able to follow his own dreams due to a serious illness, Simon decided to step in.
“I went to a track day and got talking to a fellow enthusiast who races himself,” Simon said. “He had to step away from the track to sort out his treatment. He told me about having chronic kidney disease and a failed transplant he had.
“So I thought I might as well see if we’re compatible. Being a living donor is a really common thing, so I thought why not.
“He’s got the same passion as I have for racing and we have become good friends. The deciding factor for me was that shared passion.
“People ask me what I’d do if say my family needed one, but if I hung around it could get to the point where I got too old to donate at all.”
Simon has been kart racing for three years, and said he and Steve, from Scunthorpe, meet regularly at track days and to share tips to help one another improve.
Simon, originally from Thurgoland but now living in Cow Lane, Ryhill, said the pair have started proceedings and the next step is a blood type compatibility check at St James’ Hospital in Leeds.
“People have looked at me and asked how I can be so relaxed about it, but it did take quite a lot of thinking,” Simon said.
“I wanted a military career, and that was cut short. It made me really ill mentally, and I had to get a lot of help.
“Seeing him putting his dreams on hold because of his condition was hard and I felt like I had to do something.
“We both want to progress our racing career and his illness is stopping that.”
Simon, who now builds vehicles for TV broadcasting, left Willowgarth High School at 16 to join the army as a Royal Engineer until he was discharged three years later after tearing his hamstring playing rugby.
He initially joined the KartForce team, which was set up to help ex-servicemen get into racing, but said he ‘always wanted to do his own thing’. Having started at Tyke Racing and Wombwell’s karting track, Simon won his weight class at the Wombwell track last year, and has put a team together for next year’s British Pro Kart Endurance Championship, his fourth year in the sport.
“I’m no Lewis Hamilton but I’m getting there,” Simon said.
“To run a team is my long term ambition but I want to keep my hand in grassroots competition and work my way up. I can hopefully be an outlet for people to progress in their own driving.
“I’ve sat and watched people with a large amount of talent but little money, and that’s what stops a lot of people following their racing dreams.
“Hopefully we can provide drivers with more opportunities to race with less funds.”
