I’ve done a lot of firsts…. At the time I was the first, youngest, successful kidney transplant patient at the Royal Free Hospital. They’d done one before me but it wasn’t successful so I was the youngest at the time. I’m the only transplant patient that we’re aware of that, 25 years after the transplant, has [laughing] managed to fall pregnant. And I was 34 at the time, so that was a big shock. I’m also the first transplant patient, as far as I know, that a father and son have both done my transplant – because Mr Ossie Fernando done 1977, and Bimbi, his son, who I’ve known for a very long time, done the second one in 2011. I’ve got no end of illnesses and problems – due to being a renal patient.

And, I hate to say it, but last April, my sister was a renal patient on dialysis and we lost her. Two of us in one family. She wasn’t diagnosed until she was 32 – I was diagnosed at 4 – and yet we lost her, through an operation – she had a heart attack. That same couple of months later, I lost two friends that I’d been on dialysis with, through heart attacks. So … it’s part and parcel – 9 times out of 10 if you’re got a renal problem, you’ve got a heart problem, as well. I’ve got bone issues, I’ve gone dermatology issues, I’ve got stomach-gastro issues, I’ve got muscle issues, bowel issues, the cancer – this is all through the medication.

I don't care. I don’t care, I’m one of them that – it’s part of my life. I’ve not known anything other than hospital, so I don't care. I don't get down about it. I get angry sometimes, but I don’t get down. I’ve never in my life taken anything for being down, and I don’t intend to start. But we need more people – it’s desperate – we need more people to understand we need donors. I’m all for everybody being a donor, unless you opt out. My husband done it. He was perfectly healthy. He’s still perfectly healthy. It didn't cost him anything. It was an operation – yes it took time to get over, like any operation. But if it wasn’t for him and the first donor, I wouldn’t be here.