Tough Mudder is a 10 mile endurance event with 24 obstacles that play on common human fears, such as fire, water, electricity and heights! We are taking on this challenge as a team to raise funds for vital research 

My kidneys failed at the age of 8, at the time I was generally healthy, there were no signs of kidney disease or failure but I felt poorly for a couple of days, after a visit to my GP my parents were advised I had a 24 hour bug, but they felt it was something more than this so they decided to take my to hospital. I was admitted to St James hospital after two weeks at the BRI, I then stayed there for over 3 months with 4 visits to the Intensive Care Unit, constant changes in care plans, medication and treatment. The damage and affect kidney disease can have on a patients life, and equally the patients family is horrendous. There were stages where I had to have my lungs drained, unable to walk and talk at times but eventually I went on dialysis treatment for a couple of years, even in this period of time I was constantly poorly and drained, admitted to hospital several times, missed months of school as well as missing out on normal activities a child should be able to do. Dialysis is a treatment and not a cure, but can leave you feeling constantly drained, tired and in pain. Eventually i was luck enough to receive a Kidney Transplant which I have now had for 16 years. 

Kidney disease affects three million people in UK, with chronic kidney disease affecting one in nine people worldwide. Treatments are gruelling and currently there is no cure.  20 people develop kidney failure every day and need dialysis or a transplant to stay alive and each week 5 people will die whilst waiting for a transplant. In a recent survey we found out that over 80% of people (who completed the survey) did not know where their kidneys are in the body or what they did, we need to change that by driving awareness and investing in vital research so that we can finally end this silent killer.