Ali's Story

My mobile buzzed into life back in January 2023, so I automatically answered it. After being on the kidney transplant list it became a reflex action to always answer the phone that had been glued to me 24-hours a day for the three years I’d been on the list.

 

When this call arrived, it was the third time in two months that we’d been called for a potential transplant. The first two transplants unfortunately hadn’t gone ahead because when we got to the hospital the kidneys weren’t viable.

 

So this time when I picked up and was told ‘we may have a kidney for you’ we were strangely pragmatic about it and calmly set off to the hospital.

 

We were sure that it wouldn’t go ahead, but, before we knew it I was being wheeled down to surgery and then - what felt like a few seconds later - I woke up in recovery with tubes coming out of me. Then I knew it had finally happened.

 

From there my recovery began, both physically and emotionally. The first part was the week I spent in the hospital where day by day things would happen. The tubes were gradually taken out and I was told to drink lots of water to ‘give the kidney a job to do’, which was a dream come true for me. It’s strange the things you take for granted and miss when you’re denied them!

 

I remember the day I was told that the kidney was working. I had to text my husband to tell him the news as I knew I wouldn’t be able to say the words to him without breaking down. I also thought of my donor and her family, which hit me hard. It was tough to imagine what they were going through, but I knew I needed to so that I could appreciate the amazing gift they had given me.

 

Getting home started the second part of my recovery and I was lucky enough to take the rest of the year off to let my body heal and to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life now that I’d been given this second chance.

 

It’s now twenty months since my transplant and I’ve been able to go back to doing the things that I love again that make my life worth living (swimming, long walks, food, comedy and films). I’m a big film fan and I’m now able to volunteer at my local community cinema again. I can also work again so I’ve reopened my business and that feels like a big step forward for me.

 

One of the momentous landmarks for me since my transplant is being able to travel abroad again. And this year I was finally able to do it. We had a huge adventure and really made up for all the lost time.