26/09/2025
Posted with consent.
Our kidney story began in November 2017 our daughter Maisie who was 9 at the time had not been feeling herself, very tired and not eating for a couple of weeks. Following a blood test, we got the shock news that she had end stage kidney failure and was very poorly due to a rare auto immune disease called ANCA vasculitis. She had to have lines put in immediately and she started dialysis straight away. The following months were extremely tough not just for Maisie but for the whole family especially her sisters Gabriella who was 12 and Francesca 4 years old. We spent that Christmas in and out of hospital while she was on dialysis hoping for a miracle that she might get some function back, but it wasn't to be we were told in March 2018 that she was going to need a transplant so was told about the option of a living donor, without hesitation myself and her dad went to be tested. We got the amazing news that we we're both a match but, in the end, decided her dad would be the donor as he had less mismatches and we wanted her to have the best chance. She had a few complications in the coming months and had to have both kidneys removed in February 2019 following that she was very poorly with pneumonia which delayed the transplant but finally on the 9th May 2019 the transplant finally happened it was a very long and stressful day waiting for both Maisie and her dad to come back from surgery but right from that first day we could see a difference in her she'd had to have a feeding tube in the run up to surgery to get her as strong as possible but the first morning it was removed and she just thrived from that day it was amazing to see her doing so well and not having to have dialysis meant she could get on and live a life of a normal 11 year old girl it was life changing.
Life was good Maisie was doing amazing then in August 2024 again totally out of the blue with no warning we got the devastating news that her older sister Gabriella also had end stage kidney failure, a biopsy was done but the cause is still unknown as you can imagine it was heartbreaking for us all to not only go through this once but the thought of dialysis again with our other daughter was devastating. She was at 9% function so would soon be needing dialysis. Knowing how amazing Maisie had done after her living donor we immediately started testing for a match I as her mum knew I was a match for Maisie but hoped to also be a match for her sister too. Her Aunty and a family friend came forward to be tested also which was an extremely generous offer but it meant so much for me to be able to do it for my other daughter. Luckily, I was a match which was a huge relief. She spent the coming months back and forward to Salford royal constantly having her bloods checked as we were so desperate to avoid dialysis by June 2025 her function had gone down to 6 % so she needed the transplant desperately so we we’re over the moon to be given a date of the 8th of July 2025. The transplant went ahead, and everything went really well we are now 10 weeks on, and she is doing fantastic she celebrated her 20th birthday recently with nights out with friends and family something she wasn't able to do before due to feeling so unwell. We as a family feel so incredibly grateful that both parents were able to give our daughters the gift of life in such a unique way. It still feels unbelievable that we’ve had to experience this with both daughters but seeing both Gabriella and Maisie recover and regain their energy and be able to get on and enjoy their life again has been a joy and living donation made it all possible the care, kindness and support from all the living donor team throughout our journey has been amazing.