'I thought I was one of the healthy guys, but my kidneys were failing' - Yorkshire kidney patient shares his story as new research gets funding
Jermaine Jones, a contracts manager from Wakefield woke up one day with what felt like a hangover. Over the next two weeks, he was constantly thirsty and started to notice that he was passing urine at a much faster rate than usual. After getting his blood tested at the doctor, Jermaine was given the news that his kidneys had failed. He says: “I didn’t expect this at all and was in complete shock. I had always been one of the healthy guys, training in the gym and playing sports so I did not expect to have something so serious.”
In November 2022, he received a transplant through the kidney donor share scheme. But with donor kidneys lasting 20 years on average, Jermaine knows he may need another one day.
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Hide AdResearchers at the University of Leeds are continuing work in the fight against kidney disease and have recently been awarded a total of £475,000 from two charitable organisations, Kidney Research UK and Kidney Research Yorkshire. Jermaine says: “I am really excited whenever I see a new piece of research being funded, as I know that new discoveries could help to improve my life.”
The projects will look at how viral infections in transplant patients can be managed and whether a technique known as ‘exon skipping’ can be used in conditions such a polycystic kidney disease, which could open up new avenues for treatments.