After removing my kidney I still had the blockage in the ureter on the left side so that meant that the infection was still there and hence my temperature wouldn’t come down. The doctors again tried to operate and unblock the ureter. Through all this the doctors somehow lost the lower left ureter and made a hole In my stomach for the urine to drain out. This went on for the next 4 years of my life where I was In and out of hospital with infections. Sometimes the hole in my stomach would get blocked and my parents would rush me to hospital to unblock and drain the urine out which was extremely painful for me and for my parents who had to see me go through all this at such a young age.

When I was about 4 years old my mum brought me to London to Great Ormond Street  Children’s Hospital and the doctors said that my case had been messed up so they operated on me and made a  new hole in my stomach and that stopped the infections , the blockages then stopped and I started feeling a little better. I went back to Kenya but the doctors did tell my parents that by the age of 17/18 years old my left kidney will pack up, it was a waiting game. I went to school in Kenya and for most of my school life I had to wear nappies because of the constant flow of urine coming out from my stomach. This was very embarrassing and uncomfortable for me as I had to every couple of hours change the nappies and sometimes I would get skin rashes. I was teased a lot at school because of this and I would get very upset and cry but I couldn’t do anything. I had no confidence and I felt like I was the only one who had this problem. It was very hard and nobody wanted to be my friend. A few years later I came to London for my regular check up and my renal doctors gave me urostomy bag and that helped immensely as I stopped wearing nappies and it gave me a little bit of confidence and I didn’t smell as bad as I did with the nappies. No matter what I went through I always had a smile on my face because I knew my parents my brothers and sisters were there for me.

 I finished my GCSE exams in 1997 and I noticed that my health had started to deteriorate and felt unwell with a lot of stomach pain and infections. When I came to London in the summer holidays I went for a check up and the doctors told me that my kidney had packed up and I needed a kidney transplant. At this point my family decided that we should move to London so I can get treatment done here. When all my health problems started when I was a baby my bladder was not functioning and it was very small. My surgeons had suggested that I have a reconstructive bladder surgery. I miraculously then had a new bladder made in November 2000 and soon after I started dialysis. When I had the bladder operation, the surgeons permanently closed the hole in stomach but made a hole in my belly button where I self Catherise every-time I need to empty my bladder and don’t use any urostomy bags anymore. It was the best decision I made, however It was the toughest time for me because most of the time I was staying in hospital and the dialysis was extremely difficult as I would be unconscious the whole time during the dialysis sessions. At the time I was having my dialysis, my older sister was getting married and I could not enjoy the wedding because I was drained and very and in a lot of pain.

In November 2001, it like to call this the rebirth phase. My mum gave me her kidney and in March 2002 I had my left kidney removed as it was extremely poisoned and would not let my new kidney work properly. Luckily I had the surgery before my 21st birthday and I got better after this. Thanks to my amazing mother I got a second chance in life and I owe everything to her because without my mother I would not have been here. During my time in hospital I met a lot of people who have kidney failure and I made friends for life. I’ve got a lot of confidence and I have helped cheered a lot of people who have gone through what I have. I never thought I would be able to bring a smile on someone else’s face after all that I have been through but I did and I am till today.

I got a new life and I decided to do study and I qualified as a beauty therapist in 2004. I worked in a lot of salons, spas and department stores where I enjoyed myself a lot. In the 15 years of having my kidney transplant I have had ups and downs it’s never been 100%. I had 2 major bladder ruptures. The first time I had the bladder rupture the doctors treated me with medication and that was good enough. The second time it happened I had to be operated and I ended up in the ICU because I was very ill. I had extremely hallucinations and I didn’t think I would pull out but I managed and I got my strength back. Every time I have had surgery I came out even stronger. I have never let anything stop me from doing what I want I never let my illness come in my way . In January 2013 I started my own beauty business in the heart of the city in St Pauls ( which I call home). It was really tough the first one year of having my own business and my family wasn’t happy as they wanted me to look after myself but I was adamant about having my own business. I needed to invest myself into something that wasnt health related, something that allowed me to believe that I was more than my illnesses. I worked really hard and for 3 years I made a lot of clients and gained a great reputation and a good beauty therapist.

However then, the going got tough and in August 2015 I started getting severe migraines and I was throwing up a lot I couldn’t do anything but I still went to work as I didn’t want to let down my clients. I went to A&E several times to get myself checked but the doctors said it was just headaches and they couldn’t do anything. In December 2015 the kidney consultant told me that I had very high blood pressure and my transplant kidney was failing. This made me extremely upset because I was at my peak with my business and I didn’t want to stop working. I never wanted to go back on the dialysis machine it was not what I had planned. I had to stop working end of January 2016 and I was very upset. My 3 years of very hard work stopped and I didn’t know what to do but I couldn’t work with the way I was feeling. In February 2016 I suffered a major seizure. My mum found me in a pool of blood on my bed in the morning as I had a seizure and bit my tongue severely. I was rushed to hospital where the doctors tried to stop the bleeding and bring my blood pressure down. Because I had cut my tongue really badly and there wasn’t much oxygen going in my brain the doctors had to put a tracheostomy in my neck to get oxygen on my body. It was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. The doctors, paramedics, nurses were all shocked to see me the way they did and nobody thought I would pull through. I had all the doctors from the ICU in the theater trying to save me and they were successful. I woke up 10 days later not remembering anything. I have been through so much in my life and never got scared but having the seizure scared the hell out of me. I wouldn’t ever wish that on anyone.

I am now back on dialysis, not working and waiting for a miracle to happen. I keep hopeful and try to live life cheerfully, however the reality is is that I need another transplant. You don’t realize how important health is more than wealth, and how fragile your health is till it is taken away from you. I am looking for a donor within the blood group A+ or O, you can pledge your kidney to me by emailing me at sabinasaeed@hotmail.co.uk or through my social media links.