WATCH: Kilrea woman's plea for kidney donor

Sorchá Shaw, aged 25, has suffered from multiple health problems since she was seven but developed kidney trouble when she was 17.

She has suffered from recurring infections and problems with her kidneys and bladder which have had an impact on her kidney function. This has led to the young woman developing kidney failure.

ABOVE: Sorcha Shaw

The young woman has had Type 1 diabetes since she was nine. She also suffered a heart attack at the beginning of last year and had to have a triple bypass.

Along with the kidney problems she has been diagnosed with triple vessel heart disease and severe nerve damage in her eyes and retinopathy, which are destroying her eyesight.

Doctors have told Ms Shaw that a new kidney could give her another 15 years life expectancy.

Speaking to DerryNow, Sorchá said: “The kidney problems and diabetes have caused the quality in my eyes to deteriorate. My eyesight is like looking at a bad quality old photograph. It is dark around the edges and clear in the middle.

“The damage has been done to my eyesight. It has reached my optic nerve. There is no going back. There is notreatment or operations that would help. There is no restoration of eyesight when you are at that point.”

Even though the damage has been done to her eyes, Sorchá desperately hopes getting a kidney will help her quality of life.

“Receiving a kidney would be a significant help, it wouldn’t stop the failure but doctors have said it has the potential to slow it way down,” she said.

Sorchá’s health issues unfortunately run in her family.

Her late father Martin had Type one diabetes and heart disease and passed away after suffering a heart attack five years ago.
Sorchá currently spends 12 hours a week on dialysis.

As recently as last week Sorchá was told by doctors that she was too fragile to receive a kidney via the NHS channel of a deceased donor. They told her that only a kidney from a live donor would be safe.

"When I got that news, I felt awful, I worked hard to get on the waiting list. My surgeon said start asking everybody and anybody to donate. I got this news at 8.30 in the morning. I went into panic mode.”

Speaking on her public appeal Sorchá said: “I’ve always watched influencers and people saying post it and see what happens so I just did it. I honestly thought I wasn’t going to get ten shares, never mind the 1.3k that I have now. The support that I received is absolutely amazing.

“I’ve never wanted anything more than this. If I was able to receive a kidney it would give me a new lease of life. I’m not going to have a normal life, I will always be impaired in loads of ways but I would love a chance. I would really love to get a degree under my belt.”

If you are interested in donating a kidney to Sorchá, please contact The Living Donor Team at donatelife.co.uk or on 028 9504 3872 and express an interest, citing Sorchá Shaw, and her date of birth 28/10/1998.