>SISTERLY love has brought a new lease of life to Deirdre MacDonald.

After two decades suffering from progressive renal failure, earlier this year she faced the prospect of going on dialysis. It was then that her sister Karen McTaggart offered to donate one of her kidneys.

''I am very lucky,'' said Miss MacDonald, 39, of Ratho, outside Edinburgh, yesterday. ''I cannot describe how I feel and what she has done for me. We were close before but now there is a special bond.''

Mrs McTaggart, 40, of Boghall, West Lothian, also had to take into account the feelings of her husband Frank and their two children, Callum, 17, and Grant, 12.

But she proved a near perfect match and both women are now thriving one week after the surgery.

''I managed to miss out on dialysis. I was also able to carry on with my work but it was getting very hard. I was constantly tired. My social life and activities out of work were non-existent,'' Miss MacDonald said.

''But in the last week I have got a lot more colour and I have a lot more energy. I will just have as much contact as I can with Karen for the rest of my life and be there for her and her family.''

All of which might pose problems if big sister gets a bit lippy at work. Miss MacDonald is a departmental manager at Grampian Foods and her sister's boss, who is a supervisor. ''I probably will have to be kinder, but Karen is very good at her job,'' she said.