Girl grows two new kidneys after old ones fail

A girl left seriously ill when both her kidneys failed astounded medical experts by growing two new ones. Angel Burton from Louth, Lincolnshire, suffered from painful kidney infections from birth to the point where she required surgery at the age of five.

But surgeons were amazed to discover the little girl had four kidneys, with two new fully formed organs sitting on top of her old ones. And the new ones had taken over the role of the others, meaning she was effectively 'cured' of kidney failure.

Now, three years on, Angel, now eight, is fighting fit and her family are still thankful for the miracle that changed her life. She has an rare condition known as 'duplex kidney' - common to just a handful of people in Britain.

A duplex kidney is fused to the other at the centre and may share or have an independent ureter draining urine to the bladder. In Angel's case both her kidneys are 'duplex' and fused to the other. Each has a separate ureter, meaning that she has four kidneys and four ureters.