Holiday miracle as seriously ill boy gets to visit the beach for the first time

He asked Santa for a Transformers toy, and the opportunity to go to the beach for the first time. 

5-year-old Roman Ellul, from Adelaide, Australia  has had a tough young life. He has congenital nephrotic syndrome, a serious, rare kidney condition which meant both his organs did not work.

Little Roman has been on dialysis nearly all of his young life and his family have been praying that a life-changing kidney transplant would become available. 

“We knew he was going to need a kidney,” his mum, Ellen, told the Sunday Mail. “His kidneys had completely stopped working and he would have been on dialysis for the rest of his life."

“We had to wait until he was big enough to get an adult kidney. He was hard to match and even the doctors said it was going to be hard for him to find a kidney.

He was on the wait list for eight months.”

Then, earlier this year, a perfect match kidney became available. Within a matter of days Roman's life completely changed. 

Ellen says that the family are "extremely grateful" for the gift of life Roman has received: 

“It’s quite amazing how it all works and the gift that people can give.”

Ellen said that the family were planning on taking a special trip to the beach over the Christmas holidays. This will be the first time that Roman is allowed on the beach. Before the transplant, he had a catheter in his stomach that had to be kept clean. 

“So we’ll spend lots of time down at Brighton beach this summer. He’s going to really enjoy building sandcastles – he’s really excited.” Ellen said 

Roman agrees: “I can’t wait to go to the beach and find ocean stuff, like shells."