A Dutchman with kidney disease has found a kidney donor after an appeal on Facebook almost a year ago.

Erardo Kea, from Almere, hit the headlines when he made an emotional appeal for a live donor via the social media channel. His appeal generated a number of reactions, most of whom were not a medical match.

Now live donor Sylvia, who is a match, will on Wednesday morning have a kidney removed for Kea, broadcaster Nos says. ‘There is a 90% chance of success,’ he says. Should his body reject the donor kidney ‘that’s just bad luck,’ he told Radio 1.

‘Who will donate a kidney to me and give me my life back and my children aged two and eight a healthy father?’ Kea said in his original appeal. ‘I so want to enjoy my partner, children and life for as long as possible.’

In 2012, 483 people donated a kidney to a friend or relative, making the Netherlands one of the world’s leading live donor countries.