A Rickmansworth woman celebrated the one-year anniversary of receiving her new kidney by completing the London Bridges Walk to raise money for kidney research.
Hannah Aarons was struck with a shock diagnosis after testing to see if she would be able to donate a kidney to her father.
At the age of 33, four months after Hannah had her own daughter, she began the process of donating a kidney to her father, who was on dialysis for most of her childhood.
Hannah said: “They started doing all the tests and I was a really good match. But then we went for a scan just to see that everything was okay, and the doctor turned round and said, ‘I’m really sorry but you’ve got cysts on your kidneys and you can’t donate’.”
Hannah recalls the morning she learned she had a donor, 15 years on from her diagnosis, and the thrill and panic of missing three calls from the hospital.
She said: “I just came over in a hot sweat. I thought I’d missed my chance. It was like winning the lottery and realising you’ve lost your ticket.”
Fortunately for Hannah, the hospital called back again and hours later, she was in surgery having her transplant.
She said: “It was the best day ever. I’m feeling great one year on and my dad’s ‘kidneyversary’ falls in the same month as mine, so we recently had a wonderful family party to celebrate.”
On July 16, Hannah tackled the seven-mile London Bridges Walk in support of Kidney Research UK and raised more than £700.
She said: “Doing the London Bridges Walk with my family is my way of saying thank you to kidney research and thank you to my donor as I wouldn’t be here without them.”
You can support the fundraiser at Kidney Research UK: London Bridges Walk 2023 (enthuse.com)
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