<p>Hi. Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This is a note from my step-son Michael:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I suffer from chronic renal failure and have been in and out of hospital since I was 2 weeks old.&nbsp; Now that I'm 14 my only working kidney is just about to give up and my mum is going to donate one of her kidneys to me.&nbsp; The operation will take place this year at Yorkhill Childrens Hospital in Glasgow.&nbsp; During one of&nbsp;my visits to the hospital last year for tests our family was put in touch with&nbsp;Kidney Kids Scotland who invited us to a weekend family event where kids across Scotland met up with other families who have children with Nephrotic Syndrome or are facing dialysis&nbsp;or transplant. &nbsp;As well as having a fun time we also learnt more&nbsp;about these conditions from doctors, nurses and past patients of Yorkhill.&nbsp; As a a family we&nbsp;learnt alot from this weekend.&nbsp; I began to understand more about what was involved because I'd met&nbsp;former patients who'd had&nbsp;transplants at the same age as me and who are now leading fairly normal lives.&nbsp; It made me have a positive attitude to my transplant.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I came up with the idea of a 140 mile Triathlon even because this is the distance from Aboyne where I live and&nbsp;Yorkhill Childrens Hospital where my transplant will take place.&nbsp; Over the next few weekends with my Dad I am going to cycle 100 miles, walk 38 miles and swim 2 miles. In fact I've already started and have completed 32 miles so far, including swimming 1 mile last weekend.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Thank you for your donation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Michael Reed</p> <p>---</p> <p>Kidney Kids Scotland support children from all over Scotland who suffer from renal/urology illness and their families. To find out more visit <a href="http://www.kidneykids.org.uk/">www.kidneykids.org.uk/</a></p> <p>Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving &ndash; they&rsquo;ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they&rsquo;ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it&rsquo;s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</p>