Sister’s ultimate gift gives brother hope after kidney transplant diagnosis

Transcript

00:00In June 2007, I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease, which came as a big shock.

00:12I had no idea I had that condition. I was discovered with a kidney function of 16%.

00:19Fourteen years later then, in the summer of 2021, I had a successful kidney transplant

00:23thanks to my amazing sister, who gave me one of her kidneys. I had been to the GP for a

00:28routine check. They discovered I had high blood pressure. It didn't make any sense to

00:32me because I felt I was very fit. I was only 39 at the time. I was always very active.

00:38They took bloods and then one day in school, the GP phoned me up and said, we're going

00:42to send you to the renal unit in Ulster Hospital. Now, if I'm being honest, I had to Google

00:46renal because I wasn't quite sure what the discipline involved. And then I met Dr. Smith,

00:50who's been a huge part of my journey for the last 18 years. And in the space of 15 minutes,

00:55he told me I'd need a kidney transplant in a year. I had a kidney function of 16%, so

01:00that was a big shock. Fourteen years later then, in the summer of 2021, I had a successful

01:05kidney transplant thanks to my amazing sister, who gave me one of her kidneys. In 2007, I

01:12was hoping to go full-time into coaching. I'd been shortlisted for international hockey

01:17jobs, previously being an assistant coach to the Ice Women for four years. Then I met

01:21Dr. Smith. That kind of changed my life. I just stayed very positive through the whole

01:26experience. I tried not to have any negative thoughts with regard to my condition. I guess

01:34the challenges would have been I was sort of impacting more and more on my quality of

01:37life. I kind of refused to have any negative language with my condition. I refused to call

01:43it a kidney disease. I would never say I was tired. I just used different language, which

01:49I know it sounds daft, but that whole, you know, I kind of feel if you use negative language

01:54around it, it kind of takes over. Don't let it dictate your life.