Peter says, “When I was born, some of my internal organs were on the outside of my body, a condition called omphalocele. I had to have operations to sort that out, and take certain medications which scarred my kidneys. I also had vesicoureteral reflux (where urine was travelling the wrong way, from my bladder to my kidneys), which resulted in further scarring to both. But I managed to maintain about 60 per cent function for most of my life.

“I’ve always led a very normal, active life as that level was fine for my kidneys to do their job. But recently I have started to have problems. My blood pressure went up and I developed gout, which was incredibly painful, in my joints. My kidney function at my last test was at 29 per cent.”

What the future holds

Peter was referred to a consultant, who reassured him that they would not start to look at any form of renal replacement therapy, including dialysis, until function drops below 20 per cent.

Peter says, “However, more recently, I saw another doctor whose approach was blunter. He told me the reality was I’d need a kidney transplant in the future – it could be two years, or it could be 10 years.

“That was hard for me to hear because it wasn’t a question of focusing on changes I could make with my own lifestyle. I’ve always been fairly fit anyway, and I don’t drink heavily, but I do try to live as healthily as possible. It hit me hard mentally, and Dr Google didn’t help. I kept working out in my head how old my kids would be when I had to have a transplant and worse all the things I might miss out on should anything go wrong.

“I felt like that until I confided in my wife. She said to me, ‘Worrying won’t change anything, and it’s not going to create a positive impact.’”