Sarah Borg promised the father of her son she would do her utmost to find him a kidney and help him regain the life he lost when he suffered a double renal failure last year.

Seeing the once healthy 30-year-old man, Chris Bartolo, become weaker and paler after his seventh operation in a year, Ms Borg broke down.

She started racking her brains to think of a way she could help. She soon remembered the giving nature of the Maltese people and so turned to the public for help posting an advert on the online trading site Malta Park, asking for a kidney in return for €5,000.

“If they want to help Chris start living again... at least they’ll get compensation... “I’ve told him: As long as God gives me strength and courage, I am going to find you a kidney... That is my promise,” the 27-year-old said in a determined tone.

Mr Bartolo is very touched by the support of Ms Borg, his former girlfriend with whom he has a son.

“Sarah is being of great help... my eyes well up when I think about it... If someone had to donate, they would give me back my life and I would not know how to thank them,” he said.

Ms Borg has known Mr Bartolo since she was 13. The two were a couple for six years and have a son, Zac, who is now 10. Although they are no longer together, and both are in other relationships, the two remained close friends.

Mr Bartolo also has a nine-month-old son, Daniel, from his girlfriend, Anna Galea, who is supportive of Ms Borg’s efforts.

In 2010, Mr Bartolo started vomiting daily. At the time, his sister was undergoing treatment for brain tumour and he dismissed the symptoms as stress. But when his sister died, in December, he still continued to feel sick.

In January 2011, his girlfriend took him to the Mosta health centre. The doctor took one look at him and pointed out that the white of his eyes was yellow and ordered a blood test.

Two days later he received a phone call from the police informing him that the hospital was trying to contact him. The health centre had his old contact details.

The police asked him where he was. He said he was at work. They told him to wait there as an ambulance was on its way.

He called his girlfriend and then Ms Borg to inform her he could not pick up Zac.

When he told her what happened they thought it might be a joke. But minutes later he called her back. It was no joke. He was in the ambulance.

The doctors told him it was a miracle he was still alive.

“They had never seen someone live with such a low blood count... both his kidneys had failed,” Ms Borg said.

He was operated upon and a pipe was inserted into his stomach so he could start dialysis. He was also placed on the donor waiting list. He had to carry out several other operations.

He had to quit his two jobs. And his girlfriend was pregnant.

On Monday, Mr Bartolo had his seventh operation. After visiting him in hospital, Ms Borg went home and broke down.

She had already offered to donate her kidney, as did other relatives and friends but none matched the required blood type O negative or positive.

“What could I do? I thought I’d place an advert on the paper... There has to be a good soul out there,” she said.

She had recently helped a friend post an advert on Malta Park and decided to place one asking for a kidney. Her friend then suggested she include some form of compensation to cover the costs incurred by the donor who would have to stop working for about six weeks to undergo the procedure. She also posted a message on the Facebook page Church in Malta.

So far, three people came forward. “One of them said he wanted to do it to help and not for the money. Someone else was honest and said he would love to help but was doing it for the money,” she said.

She stressed that the compensation was only aimed to cover costs a donor would have to incur. “The last thing I want to do is make people start selling themselves,” she said.

The selling of organs is ethically fraught and in some countries illegal. However, under Maltese law, Ms Borg’s advert is not illegal as there is no legislation in place regulating the matter.

In other countries, compensation for loss of income is allowed.

A Health Ministry spokesman said the authorities had just concluded a consultation process for a legal notice to transpose an EU directive regulating organ donation.

“In terms of the directive, donations of organs by deceased and living persons shall be voluntary and unpaid. This, however, shall not prevent living donors from receiving compensation, provided it is strictly limited to making good for the expenses and loss of income related to the donation but there should be no financial incentive for the potential donor.

“The directive also states that it is illegal to advertise the need for, or availability of, organs where such advertising is with a view to offering or seeking financial gain but says nothing about advertising where there is no financial gain. So, technically speaking, the said advert does not infringe EU regulations in this regard,” the spokesman said.