Hi my name is Jemma and I am one of Cal’s friends and one of Bella’s god-mothers. On 31.01.25 Cal was taken into Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) , after being poorly for the previous 5 weeks, and I was asked to go over to look after Bella so Cal could go away in an ambulance. Never in our wildest dreams did we have the faintest idea of what lay ahead for Cal. She was told she had Acute Kidney failure, Vasculitis and her whole world was turned upside down in a matter of hours!

She has been an absolute trooper since being in ARI and has had to have so many gruelling treatments to reduce the ferocity of the Vasculitis and try and keep what was left of her kidney function intact.

Cal is an exceptionally proud person- but her biggest worry is what she will do financially. She only gets statutory sick pay (which is next to nothing) and she is unlikely to be able to continue to work whilst waiting on her next op and continuing treatment.

She needs to be able to focus on getting better, adapting to a new life of Dialysis for the rest of her life (she currently will need to go to ARI 3 times a week, equating to 3x12 hour days), getting a new routine for her and Bella and continuing to be the absolute fighter she is!

It is highly likely that Cal will be unable to work and will need to explore how she can get financial support through other longer term means- but it would mean the absolute world to all of Cal’s friends and family if you could donate anything at all to try and support Cal and Bella!

This is something Cal posted on her Facebook Page on 07.02.25:

“Two weeks ago I’d been lay in bed watching The Traitors final with half the nation not realising that I’d had a load of missed calls and voicemails from the 0300 NHS number that my phone had pied due to the sleep focus feature. After a bit of a panic and a call to 111 to find out what the heck was going on, (assuming it was an error) I was told by a doctor that an ambulance has been dispatched and I needed to be ready to go.

I asked if it could wait until morning as Bella was sleeping and I had no one to take her at that time of night and was told it wasn’t an option.

It was the ambulance crew who told me I was a red alert call to Aberdeen (I had assumed I’d sit on the truck and possibly go to Dr grays) because I had Acute kidney failure. I honestly thought they still had the wrong person!

Its turned out to be far worse than Acute kidney failure sadly and absolutely not the flu I thought I had, but this team here have been beyond phenomenal and I have faith that they are pulling out all the stops for me, for which I am utterly grateful.

To each and everyone of you who have sent messages, well thoughts, cards, gifts and essentials…. Thank you. I appreciate every single one and am so honoured to have such amazing people in my life.“