MAUREEN Hendon is facing her third kidney transplant in less than 10 years. She told Edward Davie what it is like living with dialysis and why she is urging people to register as an organ donor.

Maureen wraps a letter around an electoral registration form. It contains a plea for people in Monmouthshire to join the NHS organ donor register and help save lives.

But for electoral officer Maureen it is so much more than just her job with the local council.

Because Maureen, 40, is herself waiting for a kidney transplant. And if she finds a match from a person who has donated their organs before their death, it will be her third. It all began with a routine medical check when she was 16.

Until then, Maureen had no idea that she had been born with just one kidney. A urine test detected small amounts of protein, a sign that she was missing the organ. Even then, for years afterwards, having only one kidney made little difference to Maureen's life.

She married when she was 20 and forged a successful career for herself working for Newport and then Monmouthshire councils.

But when she was 32 she was struck down by a debilitating illness. Maureen, now divorced, said: "It's actually not that uncommon to be born with only one kidney and you can be fine.

"Unfortunately I also had high blood pressure which put additional strain on the one organ and resulted in it getting prematurely worn out.

"When I was 32, I became really ill. Previously I had the odd bout of cramp, swollen ankles and nausea but then I had no energy and just felt terrible.

"In 1994 tests showed that I had only 5% capacity of my one kidney, which meant I had to go on dialysis. It was a real shock, I had always considered myself to be a fit and active person but then I felt like a complete invalid.

"I had to change the bags four times a day, take drugs and fluids. You have to have a dialysis session once a day for eight hours.

"Ten months later, I had a transplant from a donor who had died." The operation changed her life totally.

She adds: "The transplant transformed my life again and I was able to do most of the things I could before.

"For four years the new kidney worked fine and it really felt like part of me. I thought that having had the transplant I could live the rest of my life like everybody else." But then came a cruel setback.

Maureen, who lives in Malpas, Newport, says: "I started to get ill again." Her body had tried to reject the new kidney on a number of occasions - the human body naturally tries to get rid of any foreign elements in the system, including donated organs - and doctors give the organ recipient drugs to suppress the immune system and stop this process.

But even then, there can be episodes where the body damages the new tissue. When this happens scarring makes the organ less effective, and combined with other factors this can stop it functioning.

Maureen says: "The scarring and other things had stopped the new kidney working properly so in 1998 I went back on the transplant list and back on dialysis."

She again had to get used to the grind of the treatment. "Even though you can dialyse at home it does have a major impact on your life. For eight hours overnight you are attached to a machine by a tube from your stomach.

"If you go out you have to be back in time to treat yourself and if you go away you have to carry two 10kg bags of fluid plus the equipment.

"It can have a bad effect on your personal life, I mean however understanding your partner is it doesn't help to be attached to a beeping machine all night.

"The awful thing was that I thought that after the first transplant I would be fine and it was just so disappointing to realise that I would have to go through it all again. "I think people hear the stories of miraculous recoveries and believe that a transplant solves everything.

"I had the same unrealistically high expectations and that's why it was so hard to accept that the new organ would also have to be replaced. In fact it was harder than when I first became ill because then I could accept that I was ill and that there was a way to make me better but with the new organ I just was so disappointed."

But Maureen got her second hope last September. She says: "They found me a new donor kidney, it was a 95% genetic match with my own body, which is very high. Unfortunately it was already scarred, increasing the risk that it would not last.

"They told me it was my choice and I thought that it could be the one that gave me years of healthy life so I took the gamble."

But a happy ending was not to be. Maureen says: "It was a gamble that hasn't paid off and it quickly became clear that the new organ was not going to last. I have been on dialysis since December of last year and have been re-adjusting to that.

"Later this month I have another consultation and I hope I will go back on the list for donations."

Maureen is now appealing to people to carry a donor card and tell their families that they wish to donate in order to help people like her.

She says: "I really hope this campaign will help make people aware of the desperate need for more organ donors and encourage them to consider the possibility of organ donation after their death.

"It is crucial that more organs become available and if Monmouthshire is successful in enrolling thousands of potential donors, it will help make the organ donor shortage a thing of the past."

And her work for Monmouthshire council has already been a resounding success. The campaign, launched last month, has already seen between 5,000 and 6,000 people expressing their wish to register as donors after the council sent the letter out to every household in Monmouth-shire. More are expected back in the next few weeks.

If you are interesting in becoming an organ donor, or want more details, call 0845 6060 400 or log on to www.uktransplant.org.uk