World Kidney Day 2016 is a global event, held annually on the second Thursday of March, which focuses on raising awareness and education in regard to the multitude of kidney-related conditions in existence, as well as celebrating the work of all those within this medical specialism. In recognition of this day, QEHB Charity met with Pervez Hussain, a 47-year-old whose life was changed when his health unexpectedly deteriorated.

Pervez, a motivational blind speaker and wedding DJ, had been feeling unwell for several weeks in 2011, but these symptoms came to a head for the first time while performing at a wedding: “I had a few drinks, and suddenly felt incredibly unwell. Up until this point, I had been experiencing itchy skin and nausea while walking, but this particular wedding was the point at which I vomited for the first time since these symptoms started to become manifest.”

As well as the symptoms listed above, Pervez began to lose weight; as a slender man, at 12 and a half stone, this was a cause of concern for Pervez and his family.

Despite these symptoms, Pervez remained incredibly optimistic and fit, passing a police fitness test  in September 2011 with flying colours: “The average pass rate for one of these tests is 36; I passed with 72. My fitness levels were strong in the face of my growing list of symptoms.”

The gathering pace of Pervez’s deterioration eventually caught up with him, following him failing to gain a different post within the police force in November of 2011. It was at this point that Pervez’s superior urged him to organise an appointment with a doctor: “My health was at the point where my skin turned grey at an event; therefore, I arranged an appointment in December  2011 for 6 January, 2012.”

In the Christmas period prior to this appointment Pervez began to fall asleep for extended periods of time, with the worst case being fifteen hours. In addition, he began to have balance problems while walking with his guide dog and his weight dropped to just below nine stone, coinciding with a severe loss of appetite.

At the appointment in January, Pervez’s doctor expressed concern that his spleen appeared enlarged and therefore took emergency blood samples. On the same day Pervez received a phone call informing him that an ambulance was going to take him to the QE. In this initial admittance, Pervez was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease: his right kidney was five times larger than the average kidney size and both kidneys had a functioning percentage of below five percent.

Pervez began to receive dialysis three times each week at the QE on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Following the first three months of this treatment, an infection developed within the central venous catheter that had been placed in the neck. This catheter was replaced with one in the groin and another in the chest.

Just over a year after being diagnosed, Pervez was informed in April of 2012 that his left kidney had to be removed in order to make way for a new one. While Pervez recognised the severity of his state of health, he delayed the procedure by six months in order to perform at the weddings he had agreed to take part in.

In September of 2012, Pervez won an award for Outstanding Contribution within the police service, tragically, it was at this point that his health was so poor that he had to retire: “I had been in the police service for 23 years; to leave was incredibly difficult.”

(Pictured: Pervez receiving an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution’ within the police force.)

Pervez’s left kidney was removed in October of 2012 and he continued to receive dialysis while on the transplant waiting list.

It was in December of 2014, when Pervez was at his home in Hereford, that he received a phone call stating that there was a kidney for him. However, when he reached the QE, he was informed that the kidney had a slight risk attached to it due to the donor having prior medical conditions. After some deliberation, Pervez decided to give the kidney to another patient who needed it more than himself.

Due to being Pakistani-British, Pervez worried that he would have to wait many years for a transplant due to the lack of Asian organ donors in the UK. Despite these fears, Pervez received a second call from the transplant coordinator at the QE in early February, 2015, informing him that an altruistic donor had been matched with him. Following three weeks of checks, Pervez received the kidney transplant on Monday 24 February 2015.  By the following Saturday, he was walking, and he went home on the following Tuesday.

In order to minimise the chance of infection in the wake of the transplant, Pervez placed himself in isolation for three months following the surgery, making sure he took some exercise each day in order to help the blood flow to the new kidney: “It is possible to fail to realise how unwell you are while in the midst of it; I am so grateful to have been given a second chance at life.”

To find out more about World Kidney Day click here, and to find out more about Pervez’s motivational speaking click here.

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