In early 2013, I finally reached “remission”. The steroids and Rituximab had worked. Although the damage to my kidneys was not repaired, it had stalled, and we began to hope that I could start “moving on” with my life.
Back when I first started treatment, and I realised I was facing a long road over unknown ground, I told myself that if/when I ever reached remission, I would travel to the UK to explore and to visit a close friend who had moved back there to live in the middle of 2011.
As a result of everything I experienced, I learned that although it sounds eye-roll worthy, life is short, and none of us is guaranteed tomorrow. In light of this, I figured why go on holiday to the UK when I could move there to live?
So that’s exactly what I did. My newly “healthy” 25-year-old self left New Zealand on August 9th 2013, and after a bit of time spent travelling, eventually settled in northern England. For the next couple of months, life was pretty good.