Ellie’s Story

I donated one of my kidneys in January 2024.

One day I got talking to one of my clients at the skin clinic where I work, who told me that her stepdaughters both suffered from a hereditary kidney disease and needed dialysis to live. I had trained as a nurse and spent some time on a dialysis ward, so I understood the reality of what it meant to live with kidney disease and rely on a dialysis machine to survive. I had known about living kidney donation, but had never really considered doing it myself until hearing her story. It planted that seed in my head.

I didn’t say anything to her in the moment, but gave it a lot more thought after she left. I can be quite an impulsive person, so for something as important as this I wanted to give myself time to consider everything. I’m lucky enough to have had no real health scares. If I was able to live a healthy life with just one kidney and my spare could go to someone in need, then why not?

I spoke to my dad about it too, who was really supportive. My husband was definitely more worried for my own safety, but after we talked it through he understood why I wanted to do it.

About a week later I emailed her saying I’d given it more thought, and I wanted to put myself forward to donate to whichever stepdaughter was the better match for my kidney.

Initially they thought I was bonkers! We arranged to go for a coffee to chat everything through in more detail. She got me the contact details for the Brighton medical team, so I contacted them and started the process.

The operation itself all went according to plan – there’s so much build up but the day itself felt like it flew by! Unfortunately after the operation I had some abnormal swelling from the anaesthetic and a damaged lymph node, so I had to be readmitted to check that everything had recovered properly.

I’d say it took around 4 weeks before I really felt back to my usual self, but since then I haven’t felt any different at all. I still get a check up once a year to make sure everything’s fine, which is a great safety net just to know is there, but I’ve never had any issues.

I can’t stress enough how little my day-to-day life has changed since my operation. I was in a bit of pain and uncomfortable for a few weeks, yes, but what Tess has gained outweighs that massively. I’m honoured to have gained a relationship with Tess from this, but that’s just a bonus to knowing I changed someone’s life with something my body wasn’t using. It’s been worth it.