A GREAT-GRANDFATHER who had a three per cent chance of surviving a seven-hour operation to remove a whopping 22.5-pound kidney, is awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records that it was the largest in the world.

Dave Whatley, 54, was carrying around the equivalent of triplets, after being diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2002.

This resulted in clusters of fluid-filled sacs developing inside his kidneys, preventing them from effectively filtering waste from the body and resulting in them becoming extremely enlarged.

The father-of-three and grandfather-of-11, from West Ham, Basingstoke, had his first kidney removed in 2012, which weighed16.5lb, resulting in Dave needing dialysis.

Three years later he had a kidney transplant to replace the one which had been removed.

However, he became increasingly unwell as his other kidney increased in size.

Dave was informed by doctors that further surgery was extremely risky, with just a three per cent chance of survival.

However, because his symptoms were so severe, he decided he had no choice and had a seven-hour operation to remove his second kidney on December 3 last year at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Portsmouth, where a specialist surgeon carried out the lengthy procedure.

He said: “The day we got down there we were sitting waiting and one of the surgeons said ‘if that’s 22lbs I’m going to eat my hat’. I didn’t see him again.”

His wife, Anne, 59, said: “Prior to the operation it was reported in The Sun newspaper that a world record kidney had been removed from a gentleman in New Delhi in India weighing a record 16.5lb. The surgeons had predicted that hubbies would be bigger.”

She added: “Imagine being pregnant and ready to drop and your belly is really stretched and tight and hard. It was like that but carrying triplets. Everyone thought it was a beer belly but he doesn’t drink.”

The couple, who both used to work as bouncers in Basingstoke, have contacted Guinness World Records about the kidney and are waiting for them to confirm it is a new world record, at 120 times larger than a normal adult sized kidney.

Dave said he looks much slimmer following the operation, but said a tattoo on his stomach which reads ‘No pain no gain’ is slightly misaligned.

“They said to me after that it took them longer to line up the tattoo than it did to do the operation.”

Clearly thankful to be alive, Dave added: “My chance of survival was small because of the size of it and the position. The left kidney can be taken out straight up but the right is more complicated.”

He is now recovering at home and said he already feels much better, adding: “It’s such a relief.”