A Fife grandmother awaiting her second kidney transplant has backed a campaign to encourage more people to join the organ donor register.
Kathy Butcher, 65, can only visit her toddler granddaughter down south if she books into a nearby hospital for dialysis.
She longs for the day when her two daughters can “get their mum back”.
Kathy, of Kirkcaldy, hoped her first transplanted kidney in 2001 would last her a lifetime.
However, she was put on the waiting list for a second operation last year following gradual deterioration of her kidney function.
She spends 15 hours every week on dialysis.
She said: “My daughter lives down south and when I visit her and my two-year-old granddaughter I arrange to dialyse at a hospital nearby.”
Born with only one working kidney, Kathy suffered infection throughout her life and high blood pressure during pregnancy caused further problems.
All was well initially after her first transplant but in 2014 Kathy had to restart dialysis.
She said: “I don’t really consider myself to be an ill person, but then I know what life after a transplant is like.
“It was just amazing.
“I suddenly had energy, wasn’t restricted in my diet and was back feeling like my old self again.
“My hope is that I get back to that place at some point, and my daughters get their mum back.”
Giving her support to the We Need Everybody campaign to encourage people to join the NHS organ donor register, she said: “I’m grateful to be living in a world where having a transplant is a possibility.
“I think it’s wonderful that people put themselves forward as potential donors by joining the organ donor register.
“I was so thankful when I got the first transplant, and would be again.
“It’s difficult not to put yourself in the place of the family who has to make that decision, but I know how much it can transform a life.”
