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The surgery was said to take around 6-8 hours, I woke up on Sunday morning/afternoon after just under 5 hours. I have little memory of when I came out. Friends and family have given me different accounts of the day I came out of surgery. From the operating theatre, I was brought to the intensive care unit. Only two people were allowed to visit at a time. My family who accompanied me to the hospital the previous day had stayed at the hospital all night whilst the surgery was going on. I was so out of it from the drugs they had given me, that all day I was in and out of sleep. I remember opening my eyes at times and seeing and recognising certain people. I remember having a moment when I opened my eyes and saw my ex-girlfriend I smiled as I didn’t expect her to be there. Every person I saw I was appreciative of the time they had given up for me. Now knowing that I had so many people waiting with me in the hospital whilst the surgery went on makes me feel emotional, its difficult to desc...

Being told I was having a transplant was difficult to process. I tried to acknowledge and understand how serious things were I didn’t want to believe what was going on. It is difficult to describe my emotions, I know that I was angry I didn’t have an outlet and kept most of my feelings to myself, I closed up and tried to forget about it. I felt as though I was going through a lot of stress, I had been going through a break up that I struggled with a lot. I was having issues at work. I wanted to give up on everything. I felt worthless in every aspect of my life. I couldn’t find a reason to do anything I mostly stayed in my room, I tried so hard to keep motivated.  Eventually, I found I was hiding from all my problems, I took more shifts at work to take my mind off off everything that was going on. Although I felt as though my health was getting worse, I was getting more tired, had had more pains in the abdominal area, I was advised to cut down at work and decided to take sh...

The hardest thing about going through such challenges is feeling like you are alone in the world. I had all the sympathy and support from friends and family but no one knew what I was going through. Knowing and hearing from people who had the same or similar conditions helped me to get through certain situations. It gave me such a relief when talking to someone who was going through the same thing because they knew what I was going through, they could relate in a way that others couldn’t. The Ulcerative Colitis was under control, the liver conditions would flare up sometimes I was admitted into hospital when this happened whilst they were able to get it controlled through medication. Symptoms of liver disease now became more tangible. My eyes were visibly yellow all the time my skin was bad, ashy and dark. At all times I had an unbearable itch. Sleeping became a luxury because I would wake myself up itching myself. Bed sheets would often have bloodstains on them from itching so bad ...

Hi, guys, it's me again. Following on from my diagnosis of Autoimmune liver disease a year later I was then diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC).   UC is also an autoimmune disease that attacks the bowels.   Up to this point, I still hadn’t experienced any physically painful symptoms from any of the illnesses I had.   I continued to try and live a normal teenage life except for taking up to 6 or more different types of medication a day.   In school, we had just begun year 11 all my friends were hosting house parties and different events as it was the year were going to leave had school and had either already turned or were turning 16. I remember going to house parties and noticing others drinking alcohol, knowing that I can’t join in because it could be detrimental to my health and was recommended by health professionals that I did not drink or smoke.   This frustrated me, and the following year 2013 I started drinking socially. I m...

Hi guys, it's me again! For the past 8 years, I have been suffering from Autoimmune Liver Disease. Autoimmune disease is when a person's immune system mistakenly attacks the body of that person. The immune system is what usually fights off bacteria and viruses. It is normally able to tell the difference between foreign cells and the cells in your body. However, with an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part of your body, like joints or skin, or in extreme cases organs. My immune system attacks my liver I was diagnosed in 2012 when I was 15 and had just started my GCSE’s, a crucial time when you’re in school. I don’t remember much from that time, as I seemed to have blocked out that part of my life. Accounts I have been given by family has helped me to piece the little memories I do have together.  It was the weekend and my routine at the time was to go to football training on a Saturday then go home, ‘study’ (this rarely took place and meant pla...

Allow me to introduce myself… I’m Keiran, a 23-year old-Londoner of St Lucian and Jamaican heritage.  I’ve decided to start this blog as a place to share my experience of battling an illness and overcoming obstacles that I have risen from and navigating adult life.  After recently going through a major operation to help control my illness, I have found myself in a place where… I’m happy to share my story with you all. I have two older brothers and a sister, a close group of friends and family who have shared my journey and given love and time that has helped me get to this point with the illness.  The journey has been long and difficult, it has been a strain mentally and physically but I am pleased to be in the position I am today. I hope you can take something from my future posts whether it be for yourself or for a relative or friend who may share my experience.  Please share this post and I will be back with more to share information on t...