Bradford football fan Damian Simpson was over the moon today after taking part in a pioneering five-way organ transplant that has saved his life.

The desperately ill 14-year-old received a liver, bowels and pancreas in the series of operations that is thought to be a European first, and which took place at two Birmingham hospitals in June.

The rare "domino transplant" involved the removal of organs from two deceased donor and transplantation into a recipient. The recipient's own organs are then transplanted into someone else on the waiting list, and so on… the "domino" effect of the name.

This was the first time the surgical teams at University Hospitals Birmingham and Birmingham Children's Hospital have carried out five separate transplants over a single 24 hour period.

The patients came together at the Children's Hospital last week for the first time since the marathon operations - and met the surgeons who made the whole thing possible and saved their lives.

Surgeons Darius Mirza, Khalid Sharif and Simon Bramhall told how the intricate operation - which involved 55 medical staff and support workers working round the clock - was such a success.

The first deceased donor's organs - including stomach, pancreas, intestine, liver, two kidneys, lungs and heart were delivered to the hospital on the day before the operation. Those on the waiting list, including Damian, were mobilised and taken to Birmingham, as a second donor's organs were delivered at midnight.

The first operation involved transplanting multiple organs into an 11-year-old boy, which began at midnight. The operation ended at 6am, which was followed two hours later by two more operations - transplanting organs into eight-month old Lubaya Turpin and Sandie Lee. Sandie Lee's liver was then transplanted into Sean O'Brien, while multiple organs from the second deceased donor were transplanted into Damian in an operation beginning at 2pm.

Mr Mirza said: "This is an NHS success story. None of these patients would have survived two years without a transplant."

To sign up to the Organ Donor Register, call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk