SEPTEMBER 25, 2007, is a date which Jo Hook and Adrian Bamforth will remember for the rest of their lives.

On that day Adrian donated one of his kidneys so his friend Jo could have a life-saving transplant just hours later.

It was an act of extreme generosity, which has created a unique bond between the pair, who have been friends for about 10 years.

Said Jo, who is 33 and lives in Chartham, near Canterbury: "It was a very rare thing that Adrian did and I now feel as though he is my brother. He has saved my life."

But Adrian, who is 35 and lives in Thanington, near Canterbury says he never had second thoughts about donating one of his kidneys once he found out that he was the same blood group as Jo.

"If a member of your family or a good friend is suffering and you care about them then how can you not do something like this," he said.

"Having the operation to help Jo seemed perfect sense to me. When I thought about it rationally it was the best thing to do."

Now, four months later, Adrian says he feels no different after his selfless act. But for Jo Adrian’s kidney has made all the difference in the world.

"It was working well from the moment I woke up and straight away I was able to start having things I’d not been able to have," said Jo.

"I have re-discovered dancing, got my freedom back. I wake up each day feeling so good and have more kidney function now than I have ever had."

Jo was born with perfect kidneys but at the age of seven months contracted e coli which seriously damaged them.

But, although she had only 30 per cent kidney function, she said she felt fine and led a more or less normal life until she was 31 when the function dropped to 21 per cent and she was told she would need a transplant.

By May last year, this had dropped to eight per cent and by August she was on dialysis at Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

"I felt like rubbish all the time then," said Jo. "I was so tired and not really able to function properly."

Her family were tested but they were incompatible because they were different blood groups.

Six friends volunteered to be tested and again all were of different blood groups and couldn’t help.

At this point Adrian, who was a blood donor and knew he was the same group as Jo, told her that if she ran out of options to come to him.

"I spoke to renal consultants and was told that it was a safe, very reliable and successful procedure so I told Jo I was up for it."

Because Adrian was not a member of her family nor her partner he had to have lots of discussion with consultants to make sure he was sure about what he was doing. But he never wavered and the operation was arranged for September 25 at Guy's in London.

Adrian left hospital three days later and Jo came out a week after the operation. Within a week Adrian, a graphic designer and illustrator, was able to work from home and after a fortnight he was out shopping and more or less back to normal.

His op was performed by keyhole surgery and he now refers to his relatively small scar as his Jo Hook tattoo.