Let Me Introduce Myself

Firstly, thank you for coming to my blog! It really means so much to me that you’ve taken the time to come and read my stories. It’s all going to be very casual and relaxed! It will cover some serious topics but that doesn’t mean that we can’t sit and have a discussion about them rather than being very formal!

I can’t quite believe that I am doing this (I’m a very nervous Megan right now)! I have had this on my heart to do for a while, but I haven’t quite had the confidence to do. As I am now trying to create an awareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and promote organ donation on my Instagram, I thought that this would provide another outlet to do so.

I thought the first blog would be the prime opportunity for me to introduce myself before we get into all of the fun stuff. So, as you already know my name is Megan and I am 25 years old. I actually have 3 kidneys, my 2 that failed and then my functioning transplanted kidney. I’ve been through some bumps in the road both pre- and post-transplant but thankfully I am doing well now. These setbacks have pushed me to try to promote organ donation and raise awareness of CKD, showcasing how difficult days can be for both, as well as the amazing life changes that come with a transplant. I have always wanted to share my story and experiences from the age of 5 to now to try to do this but I have never had the confidence to do so. Honestly, I still really don’t but I have an amazing fiancé who believes that I can do anything and has encouraged me to give this a go so here I am.

As I said, I have a fiancé. We got engaged in April after 4 years together and I am so excited to plan our wedding. He is from England, and I am from Northern Ireland, so we were long distance until he was able to come over when shielding was paused and we have been living together ever since! It’s been amazing having him here and not just as a spot for my garage gym lol but to spend quality time together is really special as we didn’t get to see each other very often due to the distance and work or university commitments.

He has been a real help in the ‘gym’ for me. I enjoy powerlifting, which consists of squatting, benching, and deadlifting and my best total weight of the 3 so far has been 222.5kg so more than 4.5 times my body weight! I love how it makes me feel so strong after everything I have been through and is my time to focus on me.

I also have a ‘passion for fashion’ as the saying goes and have always loved picking my own clothes from a young age. I think it was a way of me defining who I was outside of everything that was medically going on. I think my handbags have to be the favourite part of my wardrobe, especially because I never have to worry about sizing for them. Being under 4ft10 makes finding clothes that fit really difficult at times, but I never let that stop me from finding the right outfit.

I love baking and cooking. Trying all new foods that I wasn’t allowed before being transplanted was an experience for me. I found that my taste buds had changed from pre-diagnosis, and I had to learned what I liked and disliked again. Banana bread is definitely my favourite thing to bake (ofc I had to add a pic lol), I think that might be because it’s easy to not mess up. All of my family seem to love it so that’s a good thing! I love cooking spicy food, it is definitely one of my favourites. I always think experimenting with food is great fun, the worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t taste good, so you start again.

Speaking of experiments, I should probably also tell you a little bit of my studies. My undergraduate degree was in pharmaceutical sciences, so I am a big science nerd. I think that this has been helpful in ways for me growing up as I wanted to understand what the treatment I was getting did and why I needed it. I always enjoy learning new scientific things and expanding my knowledge but remembering them all is the difficult part!

I hope that you have enjoyed learning a little bit about me before I start sharing my story. I’d love to hear any feedback you have which you can give through the contact form or by sending me a DM on Instagram or even if you want to say hi! I love having a chat!