The transplant operation to give a nine-year-old boy a new lease of life has been successful according to his mother.

Joshua Dolan, from Enniskillen, was living with one kidney which was only working at 17 per cent.

An appeal by his mother Mary in The Impartial Reporter, led to police officer Graham Dodds coming forward to offer a kidney and following the operations on Tuesday all is looking bright for the future.

Speaking to this paper on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Graham's kidney was put in her son, Mary said he was doing well and the body had not rejected the new kidney.

"The kidney has started to work and that is a good sign. It is slow at the minute but it is working," said Mary, who has not left her son's side at the Children's Hospital at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

"He has had some scans to see if it is working okay, it is all looking good at the minute."

While Joshua is in some pain following the six-hour operation, Mary said he was in good spirits and has named his kidney in honour of his donor.

"He is in a lot of pain but he's happy enough. He is more awake than he was yesterday.

"He's a positive wee fella. He named his new kidney 'Hero' because Graham is his hero."

Mary expects Joshua to remain in the hospital for the next couple of weeks as he rebuilds his strength after the operation but she says he is in good form laughing and joking with the nurses.

And it is this positive side that shows Mary her son is on the mend: "Even though he is in pain, he has his funny smile and it's the bright side out. I know it’s a simple thing but to see him like that, he’s getting better."

As well as the new kidney from Graham, Mary said there is now a friendship there that will last their whole lives and she is eternally grateful for what he has done for Joshua.

At the City Hospital in Belfast, Graham was also in good spirits following his operation.

"It’s a bit strange waking up after the four-hour operation and you are minus one organ but it is a fantastic feeling to know my kidney by the time I woke up was already on its way to the Royal Hospital and within two hours it was in Joshua.

"It's a very positive feeling and I have been able to do something practical to help Joshua get his life back and that is the big focus for me. The pain and anything that comes with it is nothing compared to the satisfaction of knowing he gets his life back from yesterday."

Graham hopes to be home within three days and he has been told after eight weeks he should be back to full fitness while the lack of a kidney will not cause him any health problems if he maintains a healthy lifestyle.

He hopes that this good news story will encourage other people to become organ donors as he now knows personally the sense of satisfaction you get from helping to improve the quality of life of somebody else.

"Once I got a picture of him post-op it just made it all worthwhile. And I think it has exceeded my expectations of how positive I feel after it.

"It's such a unique thing to do you couldn’t work out the feeling until you have done it," Graham added.