A triathlete and former bodybuilder has said he sent his medals from the British Transplant Games to the stranger whose donated kidney transformed his life.

Nathan Black, 58, from Burntwood, spent years on dialysis after developing renal failure.

After a failed transplant from his mother, he received a kidney from an anonymous donor who he later came to know as Paddy.

The pair eventually met and Black said the life he had gone on to live would not have been possible without Paddy.

Black first became ill in 2011 and was diagnosed with renal failure.

He started dialysis within days and received a kidney from his mother in 2013, but complications meant it had to be removed after 10 weeks.

He returned to dialysis for more than three years, before receiving a second transplant through the paired donor scheme.

"I remember seeing a delivery bag and someone said, 'That's your kidney in there'," he said. "It was surreal.

"I was very anxious because I got to 10 weeks the first time. Once I got past that, the anxiety slowly started to fade."

The transplant transformed Black's life.

A former competitive bodybuilder, he returned to fitness and went on to compete in five British Transplant Games, winning two silver medals and a bronze, as well as representing Team GB at the World Transplant Games.

For seven years, Black did not know who had donated the kidney, but he sent him an initial thank you message and went on to send him a medal whenever he competed at the British Transplant Games.

"I'd write him a little note and send him the medal to say thank you. I'd tell him, 'We did this'," Black said.

In 2023, staff at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital told him the donor wanted to exchange details and Nathan received a card from Paddy for the first time.

In it, he wrote that it brought "a tear to my eye to hear that you are so fit and healthy" and that his small kidney had made such a difference, adding his name at the end.

The pair later met at the British Transplant Games in Nottingham in August 2024.

"My daughter came with me and I said, 'I don't even know what I'm going to say here, because thank you just doesn't cut it, but it's the only word'," Black said.

"I said, 'If you've come to have it back, you've got no chance mate'."

Now a father of three and grandfather, Black hopes more people will consider becoming organ donors.

"Be selfless in what you do, because you can take nine people's lives to your grave that you could have changed by agreeing to become a donor."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.