A WOMAN has had her life turned around following a kidney transplant – despite multiple delays due to Covid.

Sarah Foster, from Chepstow, has been on dialysis for three and a half years while awaiting a kidney transplant after a deterioration in her condition.

“I was on tablets at first and thought they would keep it away, but then I started to feel worse so my husband Chris called the doctors.

“Then I had to start on dialysis, three times a week. I’ve been on dialysis for three and a half years. It was draining, especially when having to get up at six in the morning, especially knowing what is going to happen when I get there.”

Mrs Foster was potentially able to get a transplant earlier this year but on the day she was diagnosed with Covid so it was unable to go ahead.

“I was lucky to get it then though. One of my friends who had a kidney transplant caught Covid and it killed the kidney.”

A few months later, she had another potential donor but it wasn’t able to go ahead. Then a few weeks later, she had a phone call in the evening from the transplant team and on June 4 went in for the operation.

“When I had the transplant, I was overwhelmed and the nurses said it was normal to feel like that and I can start living my life again.

“The staff were amazing, when I came around from the anaesthetic, I had my own dedicated nurse who was lovely. There were three of us in the ward and we were having banter with each other and the staff. You need that after something so big and especially when you can’t have visitors.

“I wasn’t allowed visitors so I couldn’t see my husband Chris, but I gave him a call and he couldn’t believe how well I sounded.

“I took a photo and put it on Facebook and people were commenting how well I looked and when I spoke to them on the phone they were all saying how well I sounded. I was still in a lot of pain but I was getting better.

"It literally turned my life around. People say it all the time but its only after having the transplant and seeing what I can do now that it I can truly see the difference its making."

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Mrs Foster is now looking forward to being able to get back to her previous self. She went to recuperate on holiday in west Wales and is looking forward to being able to go on holiday without having dialysis. She has also been out on days to the likes of Glamorgan Cricket, Party in the Park and Silverstone.

“When you have dialysis, you have to have it. So if you go anywhere, you have to book holiday dialysis and you feel like you’re missing out on the holiday itself as you’re confined to your bed for a period while having the dialysis, so your family can be out and about and you’re stuck inside.

“I can’t wait to be able to go on holiday and not have to worry about dialysis.

“When I was on dialysis, I could not have done something like the day out at Silverstone because I would have just been too tired, and while I was still tired after it, I could tell I was better than I was.

Mrs Foster is improving each day and is hoping to get back swimming and to the gym to make sure she keeps healthy.

She wanted to give something back to those who helped her so along with husband Chris will be hosting a ‘Sidney the Kidney’ fundraising day at Chepstow Methodist Church on Saturday, October 9. There will be a coffee morning, stalls and an ‘unwanted gifts’ stall where people can donate any unwanted gifts which can then be sold to new homes.

The money raised will be split between Kidney Wales and the dialysis unit at Cleppa Park in Newport as a thank you for their support.

Next year, Mr Foster will be running the Cardiff 10K for Kidney Wales after it was postponed this year.

You can donate towards the fundraising here www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Sidneythekidneyday