Woman, 42, undergoes 78 operations to battle life-threatening disease

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A woman with stage five chronic kidney failure has launched a campaign to increase awareness of the devastating condition. Clare Griffin, 42, was first diagnosed with kidney failure at 12 and has since undergone 78 operations.

Clare, who lives a few miles away from Frome in Warminster, said: "We just want to make people more aware of what is going on in the world of kidney disease.

You hear a lot about cancer, but you never actually hear anything about kidney disease which is equally as degrading and life-threatening and debilitating." "Even just to walk 50 yards outside my door is a bit of a battle; I get breathless, cough a lot, knees hurt...I'm tired, I'm worn out, I've had 78 operations and I'm physically shattered." Clare was taken to a doctor aged 12 after suffering frequent nosebleeds.

The doctors were shocked to discover she had a blood pressure reading of 310/220 and eventually diagnosed her with kidney failure, SomersetLive reports.