Hello! I am Jenna, I have my own small catering business, have worked as a Chef for 5 years, and was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure in 2005 at the age of 21.
In my case, it was sadly a rare diagnosis, being so young and having no history of renal failure in my family, it came as a bolt out of the blue during a routine blood pressure check at the doctors.
I'd been experiencing headaches, a bit of weight loss and felt lethargic from day to day, but other than that there was no sign that I was so drastically ill. I was sent for a blood test at Chestefield Royal Hospital, Calow, and was told within 4 hours that both my kidneys had failed to the rate of being just 11% operational, and unless a donor for a new kidney was found ASAP, I was facing life on dialysis or worse - the loss of my life.
I was quickly referred to a team of specialists at The Northern General Hospital, where myself and my immediate family started the gruelling series of tests to find me a live donor match.
A live donor is someone (usually a parent or sibling) who is so close a match to yourself in blood and tissue type that they can have one of their working kidneys removed, and transplanted into my body to save my life, as a person can live with just one kidney.
I had a good chance of getting a match, as I had both my parents and my sister voulanteering to donate a kidney to me, without hesitation. But things soon took a turn for the worse, as both my parents were told that, for other medical reasons of their own, they were both unable to give me a kidney.
Our worlds started to fall apart and I started to recieve councilling from the pre-dialysis nurse, who dealt with the physical and emotional issues for someone who is about to succumb to the painful proccess of a life on dialysis. The dialysis would really have to take up much of my life, visiting the hospital 3 times a week to have my blood filtered by a machine for up to 3 hours at a time. I would have to go on a special low-potassium diet, and I wouldnt be able to hold down a full time job.
A miracle came in the form of my Aunty Pauline, who on hearing the devestating news of my parents being rejected as donors, insisted without a breath of hesitation, that SHE would be the one to donate to me. We were all thrilled, as specially as Pauline passed every single test with flying colours, and the transplant date was set: 28th September 2006, barely a year from my first diagnosis.
Almost 5 years have passed now and obviously the operation was a complete success! I am a healthy, happy if not a bit crackers individual with the world at my feet! Pauline and the specialists & surgeons at The Sheffield Kidney Institute gave me a second chance at life, and I now want to give something back to not only them, but to ALL the other people at The Sheffield Kidney Institute who have been through, are going through and who are unfortunately about to go through everything that I have. Your money will fund research into new innovative treatments for renal problems, new drugs without all the nasty side-effects, and hopefully, one day will help find a CURE for renal failure.
I hope that you will join me in supporting this charity that is so close to my heart, and with the recent news of new techniques now being practised thanks to the generosity of people like you, surgeons will now acheive 500 more sucessful operations every year, I hope this shows that your money really goes to fantastic use.
Together, we can give so many lives back!!!
Love to you all xxxx
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