How to Save a Life

Another year has passed. Nine years of real, enjoyable life as a result of another family's kindness. This is my annual post when my transplanted kidney is at the forefront of my mind.

A few of my daily dose

Kidney transplantation is a cheaper treatment for kidney failure than dialysis. Although most people have one more kidney than they need there are never enough kidneys for the people on the waiting list. France has recently introduced the opt-out donor system which means there is 'presumed consent' to donate. In the UK we still opt-in, by signing the register and carrying a donor card. In both systems family-members can over-ride the wishes of the deceased when the time comes. I'm not religious; I think that people should donate their body parts after death, but appreciate that the death-bed is a hard time to be making such a decision and I'm not entirely convinced that the Government should make the decision on behalf of the dead.

Make sure your family know your wishes

Please sign the organ donation register TODAY

I'm grateful to the NHS and the fact that it still (just) has enough funding to cover the dialysis costs for everyone who needs it, unlike some other countries. Of course, our poor NHS needs assistance from charity more and more as less 'real time' money is put into the system that we're so proud of. I hope my donated kidney lasts longer than the rest of my body so that I won't need to return to dialysis in the future. Having said that, the improvements to dialysis systems are huge and hopefully they'll make it to the UK from the US - wearable dialysis machines? Really!

Thank you to all of you who have already chosen to save at least one life after you've moved on...

Here are The Fray singing along to this post:

8 Years and Counting

April 5th 2008 was an important date in my life. I was woken by a phone call at 4:50am and told there was a suitable donor kidney available for me at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. I had received this call twice before, but on those occasions the kidney turned out to be a more suitable match to other patients than for me. But, with thanks to the generosity of a bereaved family, it really was third time lucky for me. The actual transplant operation didn't take place till after 11:00pm. The recipient of the other available kidney went to theatre earlier in the day. It was a long day, with lots of x-rays, blood tests and other tests to ensure my fitness and suitability to receive the kidney.

I thought this was funny

My new kidney was a slow starter. It was a long 4 weeks of waiting for blood results to improve before I could finally stop haemodialysis. That was probably the worst period during my whole 'kidney failure experience' and I still couldn't eat all those tasty foods that were considered off limits whilst on dialysis for nearly 4 years.

One of my lovely nurses, Raji, connecting me up for a dialysis session

It was during my convalescence that a note was posted through the door asking if we would be interested in an allotment in Hungerford. We knew it would be good to have a more healthy pastime for my new lease of life, rather than playing games on and fiddling with computers. But it was a bit too early to know how I was going to feel after the transplant so we put our names on the list. It was almost a year after my operation that we received an email saying that a new site was opening in Hungerford and there was going to be a 'stone clearing session' and that afternoon we started digging Plot 7 Marsh Lane.

Since the transplant, and having the allotment, Jamie & I have a healthier diet and lifestyle. The transplant improved my appetite (a little too much perhaps!) and the allotment has gone some way to improve our diet.
I have been mostly healthy over the last 8 years (currently 17 tablets a day keep my blood results on track). I check my regular blood test results online through the brilliant PatientView resource which I understand is available to all UK kidney patients and I meet my consultant to discuss how things are going every 3 or 4 months.

Renal Patient View

Please register as an organ donor and let your family and friends know if you want your organs to be used to improve lives, should the worst happen to you. Your memory will live on through your grateful recipients and your legacy can be saving lives.