An Aberdeen man with a life-threatening kidney disease is appealing for a living kidney donor to give him a “second chance at life”.
Liam Duncan, 27, has Berger’s disease, an autoimmune kidney condition affecting around 1 in 50,000 people in the UK.
For years he led an active lifestyle, regularly running and going to the gym – but says that all changed last December when he was rushed to the hospital with kidney failure.
“It’s been a long time since I woke up and felt normal and got on with my day. Even having a shower or going to the gym with my mates and planning things with friends is difficult when you’re scheduling dialysis and relying on a machine to live.
“It’s really rough physically and mentally. You just want to be able to get your life back and live like a normal twenty-something-year-old.”
Liam is among about 500 people in Scotland and over 8,000 nationally who are currently on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.
He first began experiencing issues aged 14, when he spent hours with agonising pain and began urinating blood.
For over a decade, Liam underwent six-monthly health checks and kept an eye on his diet in a bid to manage his condition.
But he says his kidney function has steadily declined over the last two years.
His condition deteriorated one November night when he says he felt his head was “about to explode”, which he suspects was due to a trigger such as the flu or Covid.
He was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance at around 1am and waited nine hours to be seen, before being rushed to the Queen Elizabeth following tests.
By the time he arrived, consultants told him his kidneys had failed and his blood pressure had reached dangerously high levels.
He was kept in for a week to help lower blood pressure, but it emerged his kidneys had deteriorated to around 5%.
STV NewsDoctors told him he had stage five kidney failure and would need to begin peritoneal dialysis while being added to the transplant waiting list.
“It was a big shock, but a big relief as well. I had been feeling extremely unwell for months and wondering what had been wrong with me physically and mentally. It was good to have an answer for it.
“But I knew my life was going to take a bit of a turn before that point.”
At Christmas, Liam suffered a collapsed lung after a rare complication from dialysis caused fluid to enter his abdomen and chest cavity.
The complication, which affects fewer than 1% of dialysis patients, strengthened his resolve to find a living donor as quickly as possible.
“It does leave you wondering what will happen next,” he said.
Now, Liam has launched a public appeal for a living kidney donor.
A living donor is associated with better outcomes, with average kidney lifespans of 20 to 25 years and shorter wait times of three to six months.
Deceased donor transplants typically function for around ten to 15 years and often involve waiting lists spanning several years.
STV News“It’s such a life-changing event. I definitely felt very scared about putting myself out there. It’s hard to let people know you’ve been so ill and make yourself vulnerable.
“I can’t live without dialysis. I won’t be able to live. It’s extremely important to stop having to live day to day on machines and wondering what’s next.”
Dr David Walbaum, consultant nephrologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said there are significant advantages to receiving a kidney from a living donor rather than a deceased donor.
He told STV News: “Kidneys can come from people who have passed away and are on the organ donor register or from people who are alive and healthy and have two normal kidneys. There’s a very big push across Scotland to try and increase the number of living kidney donors.
“For Liam and lots of patients like him there are lots of advantages of living donors over a deceased one So the first one is that they will get a transplant much, much quicker and that means less time on dialysis. That’s very good for their health and quality of life.
“Also the transplants from living donors are usually better quality transports, which means they work quicker and for longer and they have better function with fewer complications.”
Liam says he believes the transplant will put him on the path to a better future.
“I just want to be able to get my life back.
“The UK is especially crying out for living donors. There are thousands of people in the same situation as me, and a lot worse than me.
He is urging others in similar situations to follow his lead and make an appeal for a living donation.
“The response I’ve had has been unbelievable,” he added. “I’ve had more than 50 people messaging me.”
“Put yourself out there. You don’t know how kind people can be. You never know, it could change your life and stop you waiting and suffering.”
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