A father-of-four with an incurable lung condition who needed a double transplant died this week before his family could get him help abroad.

Joe Doyle, 35, from Ewell, had battled with ill health since he was 18, when he found out he suffered from a bone marrow disorder called myelofibrosis, which normally afflicts the elderly.

He then received a bone marrow transplant - his sister Joanne Mirasole, also from Ewell, was the donor - but his body rejected it and his own cells attacked his lungs, in a common complication called Graft-versus-host disease, causing lung fibrosis.

Mr Doyle’s condition deteriorated and he had been in intensive care and on a ventilator for eight weeks.

Since the chances of him finding a donor in the UK were very slim, his sister Joanne Mirasole launched a campaign last week to raise £934,000 to pay for a double lung transplant in an American hospital.

She even jumped off Bognor Pier dressed as a pink flamingo, to raise money to pay for his life-saving operation, to win second prize at the contest and a £200 prize.

But on Tuesday morning (September 14), Mr Doyle died at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where he had been receiving palliative treatment.

His other sister, Angela Sorour, who lives in Putney, said: “Joe lost his battle and passed away this morning. We've lost a saint but heaven has gained an angel. He can breathe easy now.”

His family are now campaigning for a change in law so the UK will have a similar opt out system for organ donors, instead of the current opt in. They believe if that system had already been in place, Mr Doyle would have had a greater chance to receive the lungs he needed.

Mrs Sorour said: “We need this archaic law changed so that we have the opt out system - it is ridiculous that England, a first world country, is the only one in Europe who has this archaic law. Spain, Belgium, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria etc, all have the opt out system.

“I have written to the Putney MP Justine Greening asking for something to be done as we were so desperate. She has sent a letter to the Health Minister, but I haven't heard back.”

Mr Doyle is survived by his wife Mel and children Amber, 11, Aidan, five, and three-year-old twins Imogen and Aaron. He used to work as a postman, but gave it up to pursue a career as a diving instructor - a hobby he loved - which coincided with him meeting his wife.

After the bone marrow transplant, Mr Doyle then became a driving instructor because he could not dive anymore.

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