I have kidney failure and am asking friends if they'll donate an organ to give me my life back

I have had this condition called polycystic kidney disease since birth, but I found out when I was tested at the age of 12.

I knew quite a lot about it because I’d watched by dad go through the same thing, and I was his primary carer for years after my mother died of soft tissue cancer on my 10th birthday.

I saw first hand what it was like for him as he was doing dialysis at home. I feel prepared because of that but it’s also difficult because I saw him go through a really hard time.

All throughout my childhood and adult life the disease didn’t really affect me and I’ve lived a normal life with no complications at all. But I turn 43 next month and in the last year, and particularly the last six months, I’ve taken a major decline.

I had been living in Thailand for eight years with my partner Lita when I started to feel ill. I moved out there after my older brother died suddenly 10 years ago. I realised life was too short and anything could happen and I just wanted to take that leap.

I loved my life out there but when I became unwell in October last year, I had to come back to Scotland. Doctors carried out a lot of tests and worked out that my kidneys were now functioning at 12 per cent and I was in kidney failure. Once that hits eight per cent, I will need to go on dialysis.

My life has changed completely in the last six months. I was an incredibly healthy person who really prioritised fitness and socialising with friends. I was an active person who always went to the gym and played sports but I’ve not done anything at all for about eight months other than walking and even that’s got less and less.

I can’t be active at all now really. I can go out on a short walk to the shop but on a bad day, that will just leave me feeling shattered on the way back. I am very fatigued and in a lot of pain most of the time.

I don’t have a lot of close family now and a living donor is much preferred to a deceased one. So I put a post on Facebook explaining the situation I’m in and asking if any of my friends would consider donating a kidney because it’s getting really bad now.

I hope that even if I can’t find a donor, my post will raise awareness of my condition and the fact that, in the UK, there is really not that much help in terms of people in my situation or a similar one who are on dialysis or living with kidney failure and there’s not a lot out there to help people find donors. You just have to do it off your own back.

The NHS is great. I’ve had excellent care and we’d be lost without them in this country, but there is a website in America called findakidney.org which gives people a platform on which they can get their own microsite which is effectively a web page which links into transplant centres. It really removes the social stigma of putting yourself out there and asking for help which is what I’ve had to do.

To my knowledge, it’s not available in the UK but I think it would make an incredible difference to me and others who are going through a similar thing.

Of course it would be ideal to find a donor but I’m not expecting anything. I know it’s a huge thing to ask of people. I just made the decision to put my story out there to raise awareness and I’ve had a tremendous response on Facebook already.