Ellie Leens pre kidney transplant corrective surgery

Ellie is a bright, bubbly, kind 23 year old who is facing the biggest challenge of her life so far.

Ellie was born with a congenital defect in her bladder which was diagnosed aged 4.

Between the age of 4 & 9 she underwent 12 surgeries to correct this and life was good until about a year later at a routine outpatients check up they noticed she was not growing or gaining weight despite being able to eat her body weight in potatoes.

On further investigation Ellie was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure and she was told her kidney function was getting worse as a result of infections in her bladder.

Ellie spent a lot of her childhood years in hospital both in Crumlin and at her local hospital but she still just wanted to be like any other child and would not let this stop her.

Fast forward to 2019 when Ellie was admitted to her local hospital with what she thought was another infection, it turned out to be sepsis and she spent the next 8 weeks with a trip to ICU and a blood transfusion fighting for her life.

In 2020 after another admission to hospital and various scans she was told that her kidney function was getting worse she also was in constant pain due to swelling in both kidneys.

She was referred to Urology to try and figure out was was going on, then COVID hit and she did not get to see anyone and her kidney function was 11% by 2022 and then she was told she needed a kidney transplant, but before they could put her on the active list they needed to find out was causing all the infections.

2023 saw admitted to hospital 3 more times for periods of months at a time. She was unable to keep anything down and in December she spent Christmas, New Year and her birthday in hospital.

In January 2024 she got to see her urology consultant who explained that from the infections her bladder was scarred and was not holding a normal amount of urine, causing re flux and her kidneys were now 4 times the normal size.

He informed her that she will have to undergo major surgery to correct this and the surgery will be around 13 hours and she will spend a week in ICU and a further week in hospital and 8 weeks recovery at home if all goes well. If not she has been told it could take up to a year to recover from this procedure.

Ellie has not been able to work since December & had been on reduced hours before that due to her illness and her Mum is now her full term carer which has placed a large financial burden on the family.

Her day to day life is spent between the bed and the sofa as her mobility has been affected and she needs a frame to get around and suffers with chronic fatigue.

The good news is that she has received a date for the surgery of 27th August which is scary and exciting at the same time.

The surgery will take place in London as it is such a complex procedure and Ellie and her Mum will travel over thereto be with her

Anyone that has been in hospital or had a family member in hospital will understand the extra burden financially it places on a family. On top of this having to travel to London etc.

Ellie is still trying to be positive and wants to document her journey to raise awareness of Kidney Disease to try and help others. Please if you are interested in her journey follow her progress, the good, the bad and the ugly on her tik tok which is @ellieleenn.

When all of this is over and she is well Ellie wants to be a nurse so she can help others the way she has been cared for over the years.

If you can help in anyway Ellie and her Mum would be so grateful and it will be one less worry for them at this time.