After I’d sat down and written about everything that happened to me in the last year and a bit, plus another couple of posts inspired by conversations I have had with people, I realised I had reached the point where I had to decide what on earth to write about next! I have a huge file on my laptop of ideas for potential posts. I have opened this file many times and read the list, but
A few weeks ago, I did one of the most important things I probably ever will. I wrote to the family of my donor. Due to NHS regulations here in the UK, I know virtually nothing about my donor or his family. I know his gender, obviously, and that he was “middle-aged” and healthy enough to donate. Beyond that, he is anonymous. I presume his family know equally little about me. Probably only that I’m
Hi, I’m Holly, and every day of my life I struggle with negativity. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been more than just a glass half empty person. I’ve been the type of person who worries about leaving the glass somewhere it could tip over and spill, or even worse, fall off the table and break, and then not only would I have broken glass to deal with, I’d probably stand in it
I have Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). More specifically, glomerulosclerosis, which means that parts of my kidneys (the glomeruli) are scarred (sclerosed), and therefore don’t work. I currently have a glomerular filtration rate (GFR), of 13, which equates to about 13% of function. Obviously this is less than ideal, and since August 2014 I’ve been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. I am not yet on dialysis, but that’s almost certainly going to be
I’m Holly. I’m a writer, speaker and kidney patient advocate currently living in northern England.
