A THREE-YEAR-OLD who has endured endless hospital treatment is on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Alice Skinner, from Hartlepool, was born without kidneys and has had 13 operations to prepare her for a transplant.

The youngster has to be fed through a tube in her stomach and recently underwent operations to enlarge her bladder.

Her blood has to be constantly cleaned by dialysis, which used to take ten hours a night, but now means twice weekly visits to the renal unit at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Her parents were originally told Alice could have to wait six years for a transplant because her body would not be able to accept kidneys, having been weakened by the bladder surgery.

But last week, doctors confirmed it was now a matter of waiting for a matched donor.

Her father, George, said: "We're absolutely delighted. I've got no idea when she'll have the transplant, it could be as soon as next week, next month or next year, but she's finally on her way to leading a normal life."