Hi there, my name is Dawn and I’m currently Secretary of Scottish Kidney Federation and Chairperson of Inverclyde Kidney Patients Association.

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I was born with CKD and diagnosed at just a few weeks old with a single kidney: 'Congenital dysphasia hypoplasia kidney with vesicoureteral reflux nephropathy'.

 

Throughout my journey I've seen a lot and spent long periods of time both in children's hospitals and adult hospitals. I sure have learned a lot along the way! 

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I've been on various restrictions and diets. 

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I've experienced life on PD dialysis CAPD and APD, as well as heamo dialysis in dialysis centres and as a home hemo patient. 

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I've had a lot of hemo dialysis access options too, chest lines, neck lines, groin line, AV graft, AV fistula, also have AV fistula attached to an AV graft. Sadly, due to all of this my access is poor and I have central stenosis. 

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I had a previous kidney transplant many years ago - unfortunately that didn’t last very long and I went back on home heamodialysis in 2013, six days per week for 3.5 hours each session. 

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With very little hope of a match with my antibodies, I received the magical call for another transplant in September 2018. Unfortunately I have spent the majority of time since in and out of hospital with various issues. 

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My transplant is doing well, although function isn’t the best. I’m extremely thankful and forever grateful to my donor and their family, as I still am to my original donor and their family.

 

Thanks for reading my story so far. I’m always happy to support and share my experiences with others. 

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Dawn x