A would-be nurse from Westerhope is desperate to find someone kind enough to donate her a kidney to give her the best chance of fighting back against a debilitating inherited condition.
Tania Hussey, 38, is a mum of two and currently studying for a masters degree in nursing. She hopes to soon take up the profession, but her kidneys are failing her - she has an illness called autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. This means that her kidneys have become covered in cysts.
Though she's been aware of her genetic condition since she was 18, it's only in recent years that her kidneys have begun to fail. She needs a transplant, but none of her friends or family can help as they do not have the right blood type - so any donated kidney would likely be rejected by Tania's body.
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She needs a organ donor who is blood group O - and without a new kidney she will require dialysis. Though that will keep Tania alive, medics say that the it is by far the most optimum treatment to find her a transplant. Dialysis would also take up hours of her life each week and make it impossible for her to finish her degree or be around as much as she'd like for kids Joe, 9, and Jesse, 5.
Tania told ChronicleLive: "Unfortunately my kidney function has dropped dramatically in the last year and now I really need a new one. I have friends and family who could have donated - but none of them have the same blood group as me. Without a donor, I'll be on a two-year waiting list and will need to have dialysis."
Tania, who is under the care of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust medic Professor John Sayer, added: "I am really struggling, to be honest. I just need a new kidney. My mum died unfortunately last year and I've been incredibly stressed, it feels like everything is happening at the same time.
"Dialysis is something that will affect my life massively. It takes hours four times a week. And all at the same time I've got the children to look after, I'm trying to do the degree. A new kidney would really give me a new lease of life.
"At the moment I'm so tired all of the time - just going through the emotions of not being able to do much. I want to be able to get back to how my life used to be and just enjoy life with my family and my partner."
Around half of kidney transplants involve a living kidney donor, and medics say this has "significant advantages", not least because a transplant can be undertaken at the most optimum time. Another benefit is simply that they can prevent the need for dialysis full stop.
While many living donors are related to the person receiving the kidney, that's not always the case - and it is possible to be an "altruistic donor". People live normal lives with just a single kidney - though any potential donor has to go through a rigorous assessment process.
In Newcastle, the Freeman Hospital's live organ donor co-ordinators are Julie Wardle and Kim Russell, who can be contacted by potential donors via the hospital's switchboard and calling 0191 2336161.
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