AS PART of World Kidney Day, an Oxford woman who had waited two years for a transplant is hoping to raise awareness in an effort to help those undergoing dialysis treatment.

Ketai Sithole, a trainee biomedical scientist in histopathology at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, suffered complications during a routine surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital in April 2016 which led to her kidney’s shutting down.

Ms Sithole described the ‘traumatic’ situation that followed explaining how her life as she knew it ‘came to a standstill’ when doctors immediately placed her on dialysis to keep her alive.

However, after undergoing a successful transplant on Friday, the 39-year-old from Headington, now wants to use her experience to highlight the impact kidney failure has not just on the lives of patients, but also their families and friends and to encourage people to become organ donors.

She said: “Everything I knew, and everything I loved, came to a stop.

“Dancing, travelling, eating my favourite foods.

“It’s been challenging. It was challenging for my parents, for my friends. Doctors asked if there was anyone who could be a donor, but even if you have a match they need to be super fit.

“My parents are old and none of my friends were able, so it’s been hard for everyone, but I want to use what I went through in a positive way.”

Before her transplant Ms Sithole received dialysis treatment at the Churchill Hospital three times a week and had to drastically adjust her lifestyle to manage her condition.

She said: “It’s been the biggest challenge of my life and I would not want to go through it again.

“For me it was a problem with my surgery, but many people suffer kidney failure through diabetes or other health conditions.

“People can avoid this.

“I want to get the message out: Be Kidney Aware, love your kidneys and respect your health.

“But my other message is join the organ donor register and let your family members be aware of your choices.”

World Kidney Day is a global awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys.

Read more about Ms Sithole’s on her online blog at http://bit.ly/2tvtm1t or for more information on World Kidney Day visit www.worldkidneyday.org/