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Mum Could Die If She Drinks More Than Three Glasses Of Water Per Day

Mum Could Die If She Drinks More Than Three Glasses Of Water Per Day

Becky Roberts desperately needs a kidney transplant due to a rare illness

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A mum of three is facing a race against time to find a kidney donor as she fights a rare illness that leaves her only able to drink three glasses of water per day.

43-year-old Becky Roberts, from Kingstanding in Birmingham, suffers from Anti-GBM (Goodpasture's) disease, an incredibly rare blood disease that causes her immune system to start attacking her organs.

Currently, her kidneys are only operating at one percent, she has undergone chemotherapy that caused her to lose her hair, and cannot drink more than one litre of water each day as it floods er lungs.

She requires an urgent kidney transplant, but must find a donor that matches her Caribbean heritage and have the surgery within two years.

BPM Media

Her daughter has set up a GoFundMe page hoping to raise £86,000 so that she can get the operation through a private healthcare company.

Becky told Birmingham Live: "It's an ultra-rare blood disease and found once every 10 years. The chances of it are one in millions.

"I was told I had five years to live and that was three years ago, so I have two years left.

"It's been a heartbreaking and unimaginable time. I can't even explain it. It's like someone else's life. It's one thing after another. It's crazy.

"I have to keep strong and focused for my kids. I want to live for them, but it's heart-wrenching. They need me. My babies are my life, my world, my everything.

"I was in hospital for four months at the beginning and to see them without me was horrible. They couldn't come to see me on the renal ward because of possible infections spreading.

"I got so ill the doctors had to put me into an induced coma. My body got so weak it kept crashing. My immune system is attacking my vital organs."

BPM Media

Becky, mum to seven-year-old Amiyah, nine-year-old Andrew, and 22-year-old Aliyah, first started suffering in 2018 with what she believed could be food poisoning.

Then, she spent four months in hospital in 2019 after her condition worsened.

She explained: "I went back to hospital. My kidneys were working at three percent.

"Doctors said if I had waited until the next day I would have been dead. I wouldn't be here. It's started going to my lungs and then had a biopsy on my kidney.

"I had chemotherapy and lost six stone since I was sick.

"I lost my hair. My daughter wouldn't come near me as I was bald. I couldn't walk, eat and clean, couldn't look after myself. It's just been a whirlwind."

"I don't like living like this.

"I'm only allowed to drink 700ml a day. If I drink more the water would go around my body, around my heart and I'd end up in hospital.

"That's what happened before when I went into a coma. They put me in an induced coma. I had too much water on me when your lungs fill up and I didn't realise."

She badly needs the kidney transplant operation, but the process has been further hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

"I don't really know where I stand with the NHS. It could take up to seven years," she added.

BPM Media

"As I'm Caribbean I wouldn't be able to have a kidney from someone who say is European white. It's different tissue types, not just blood types. It's more difficult to find a match.

"The only thing I can think of is to go private."

On the GoFundMe page, it reads: "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are refused the chance to be matched to my mom, unless we go privately as live donors are not being operated on due to the risk and the heavy weight on the NHS,

"The approximate waiting time for a donor she is currently on is seven years... which as you can gather.. isn't enough time."

So far, nearly £7,000 has been raised. If you want to add to that, you can donate here.

Featured Image Credit: BPM Media

Topics: UK News, Health