Maddy's Welsh Border to Coast Horse Riding Dialysis Challenge

Hello friends

For those who don’t want to read all my ramblings…. I am horse riding 100 miles across Wales over 6 days, to celebrate 25 years on dialysis, raising money for the Young Adult Kidney Group (now part of Kidney Care UK) for which I am a founding peer supporter, and also for Kidney Wales, in memory of my dear friend Brett who worked for them. I am self-funding the challenge so every penny raised will go towards the charities.

My ramblings:

Somehow in the midst of life being what I can only describe as amazing and also madly busy in a good way, I will have managed to keep myself alive on home dialysis for 25 years this coming October. That’s approx. 7000 dialysis sessions, 42,000 hours on the machine (thankfully majority of those done overnight) and over 10,000 needle insertions.

When I started dialysing myself at home aged 14 I would never have dreamt that I would still be doing this a quarter of a century later and even better, thriving, in the best of health and having such a joyful and fulfilling experience of life, against all the odds and without a successful transplant. It sounds deeply trite, but I couldn't be more grateful, for the perspective, the excellent health and the freedom that home dialysis gives me. Yes it takes a lot of determination, time and commitment to keep doing 30+ hours of dialysis a week, alongside juggling work and everything else, but it is OH SO WORTH IT. If you are on dialysis and haven't looked into home, especially nocturnal home haemo then I highly recommend it!

So many of you were incredibly generous in sponsoring me over £24,000 for my London Marathon in 2018 to mark my 20 year anniversary, so of course I needed to find something equally challenging (daft?) for 25 years. Since the marathon I have remained heavily focused on pushing the boundaries of fitness and exercise on dialysis, and as I am now the fittest I have ever been what better time to decide to ride across the whole of Wales on horseback. The ride will cover 100 miles over 6 days, starting at the border and crossing the Cambrian Mountains using old drover trails and bridleways, finishing on the beach on the West coast. We will be in the saddle for 6+ hours a day, and I also have to travel a long way back on myself to get 4 hours of dialysis on two of the evenings, whilst my fellow riders will be enjoying recuperative naps and dinner. This is a lot less dialysis than I am used to having in a week so with that plus the riding it is going to be a proper endurance challenge, but I don’t like to make things too easy 😊

I know that times are really tough at the moment and fully appreciate that not everybody is in a position to sponsor me. But if you can spare anything at all to support my two charity causes – the Young Adult Kidney Group and Kidney Wales I would be so grateful.

I was one of the founding peer supporters for the Young Adult Kidney group and have helped to grow it to over 1000 members across the UK and beyond. We are a unique patient-led peer support group and community for people with kidney disease aged 18-30 which offers friendship, empathy, fun and a listening ear, as well as an annual residential trip to Mount Cook Adventure Centre in Derbyshire. Our group is now supported by Kidney Care UK, so they will ringfence any funds I raise to go towards the running costs of our 2024 residential trip.

My wonderful, indomitable friend Brett died last year from complications related to long term dialysis. He was the Patient Information and Support Manager for Kidney Wales and was an absolutely passionate advocate for patient empowerment and independence, as well as a hilarious and irrepressible spirit. We miss him greatly, so I will also be donating to Kidney Wales in celebration of Brett’s legacy and to help them continue their fantastic work supporting patients and their families, promoting excellence in kidney research, education, and treatment within Wales.

Thank you so much for your support, I will try to keep this page updated with the live progress of my adventures, internet connection permitting! Or follow me on Instagram @queenofdialysis

Love Maddy xx