A dad-of-six is claiming a miracle after his children found him a desperately needed kidney donation at the last minute.

Joe Schmidt, 38, was told almost two years ago that his only kidney was failing after he had gifted the other one to his sister in 2008.

Both of them suffer from a rare genetic form of chronic kidney disease although this was not known when he donated a kidney to his sister at the age of 21.

He said: “I was healthy, and they didn’t know about the autoimmune condition.”

But Joe was only saved after his children started a Save Our Daddy campaign to find a suitable donor.

Astonishingly, they were then contacted by the Mayo Clinic in the city of Rochester, Minnesota, which said a donor’s kidney had become available.

His wife Angela wrote: “We quickly packed our six kids and dog, dropped off with friends and grandparents, and raced to Minnesota full of emotions.”

After further tests confirmed it was a match, the surgery was carried out and was hailed a complete success.

The kidney was apparently from a donor who had died, although no more details than that were available.