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Over the course of 2020 I was looking to complete at least 12 challenges ranging from walks, runs, aTough Mudder 5K and a parachute jump 😱 but then COVID 19 hit!! I have spent much of 2020 shielding. Once again I have had to put my life on hold in order to try and stay safe. Ever the optimist though I have begun planning to restart my challenges. I am aiming to complete at least 12 challenges between October 2021 and October 2022.. If you have any challenges you would like to see me complete then please feel free to follow my facebook page (link below) and make a suggestion. 

2020 has hit charities hard, Kidney Research UK has experienced a massive drop in donations. We really do need to get back to funding the vital research they carry out. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that research is vital to us all!! Please donate whatever you can and help me to provide vital funding so that we can look for new and better ways to treat kidney disease in the future. 

I was born with a condition that caused problems with my water works. As a child I spent most of my time in and out of hospital having various treatments and operations. My fantastic urologist managed to preserve my kidney function enough to get me into my 20’s.

In 2002, after the birth of my 3 children, my kidneys finally gave up. I started on dialysis in April 2002, this involved going to the hospital 3 days a week to be hooked up to a machine that would clean my blood. Dialysis was difficult, especially as I had 3 children under the age of 8 to look after. 

Thankfully my mum offered to donate one of her kidneys to me and on the 9th of October 2002 we were both wheeled into theatre to have our operations.

The transplant went well and I was full of energy straight away, it was amazing to have a fully working kidney for the first time in my life!!

Unfortunately 3 weeks after the transplant I began to reject my mums kidney, this was a really difficult time but the doctors pulled out all the stops to save it. I was given a drug called OKT3 which is a pretty potent drug, so potent in fact that you can only have this drug once in your lifetime. It did the job though and I went on to have 13 long years with my little bean. 

Unfortunately in 2013 it was discovered that I had began to reject my previous kidney again, this time it was Antibody Mediated Rejection. The consultant felt that I may have been slowly rejecting for years. We tried again to save my kidney, I was given Rituximab and IVIG. These are pretty powerful drugs but they didn’t work.

In June 2015 I once again started on dialysis. This time I decided to take control of my treatments. I learned how to work the machine and brought one home. 

2016 was possibly one of the worst years of my life. I struggled with dialysis, I began to suffer from high output heart failure, my father in law was diagnosed with end stage COPD and we lost my mother in law. 

There was a tiny light in the dark however when a perfect stranger got in touch with me through Facebook to offer me one of her kidneys. 

Michelle had saw my story on Facebook, she had been planning to donate her kidney to a little boy but the little boy had got one from the list so she decided to offer me another shot at life.

On the 5th of January 2017 I received my shiny new kidney, I’ve called her Lily after Harry Potter”s mum. (Michelle and I are HUGE Harry Potter fans.)

It’s been a bit of a bumpy road since the transplant but I’m ready now to try and pay it forward. I can never repay Michelle for giving me this chance at a normal life but what I can do is raise awareness of kidney disease and raise some much needed cash to help with research.

Right now, there is NO CURE for kidney failure. Dialysis and transplant are THE only treatments. Dialysis is extremely hard on the body and mind, it’s a gruelling treatment and there are no breaks from it. If you are a HD patient you will need at least 3 x 4 hour treatments a week, every week and if you are on PD you need treatments every single day. Transplant is the gold standard treatment, it allows patients like me to live a normal life however we still have to take immunosuppressive medication for the life of the transplant and these medications are pretty toxic. My main medication, Tacrolimus, can actually damage the kidneys, isn’t that ironic!! I take a medication that can be toxic to my kidney in order to protect my kidney 🤷‍♀️. 

Kidney disease isn’t given as much publicity but right now researchers are working hard to find ways to prevent and cure various causes of kidney failure. They are looking at ways that they can help transplanted kidneys last longer, the average lifespan of a transplanted kidney is 10-15 years. They are looking at improving not only my life but the lives of thousands and thousands of others. 

Please consider donating what you can and help me reach my target.

The challenges and teams so far:

24th October - Women’s 10k Edinburgh - confirmed  🏃‍♀️

Team - Angie, Taylor, Paul (Paul is doing the Men’s 10k at 9:30, Taylor and I run at 11am)

12th November - Supernova 5k - The Kelpies - confirmed 🏃‍♀️

Team - Angie, Paul

December - During the month of December I will row the length of the River Tay (188km) on a rowing machine 🚣‍♀️

Team - Angie & probably a bit of help from Paul

January - New Years Day Dook 🏊‍♀️

Team - Angie

February - TBC

March - TBC

April - TBC

May - TBC

June - TBC

July - TBC

August - TBC

9th September - Thames Moonlight 10mile walk - To be booked 🚶

Team - Angie, Paul, Lisa

Date TBC - Zip Trek Aveimore 🧗 

Date TBC - Tandem Parachute jump 🪂

Date TBC - Ben Nevis Summit 🧗

I will add more challenge details once I have worked out what on earth I am going to do! 

You can follow my training and progress on my Facebook page Living with Lily - My Transplant Journey