I Gave a Kidney – My Child’s View

My Mum Gave a Kidney

Written by Julian 10 years old

When I heard that my Mum would be giving her kidney to a friend, I had lots of questions. My brother reassured me that it was nothing major and it would all be over soon.

Without anyone else to tell me what would happen, I listened to him and relaxed. The only question I had was how long it would take. Again my brother reassured me by saying ‘not long.’

While my parents were at the operation we stayed at our grandparents’ for two days and then we moved to our aunt and uncle’s house. When my Dad dropped us off at our grandparents’ house I had no worries. Unfortunately, the worries came back when his car went out of sight. For the third time my brother calmed me by saying ‘the doctors do this sort of thing everyday,’ I calmed down and unpacked. Our grandparents asked us what we thought about the operation. My brother did the talking and I listened. When we stayed with our uncle and aunt they asked if we were worried and I let my brother do the talking because I didn’t really understand.

So while my mum was in the operation and my dad was waiting outside, my brother and I relaxed. We watched movies, played video games, visited museums and explored the surrounding world. On one occasion some military planes flew over and we stopped to watch and listen before continuing with our various activities.

After the operation she got tired more easily. After a year my mum was back to her old self. Our judge for returning to normal was a path at Edinburgh Castle. It is very steep and twisty. A few months after the operation she would have to rest quite often, but a year after the operation she went up without resting.

Later my family went on holiday in Japan to see my mum’s friend who had her kidney. I was glad that she had given her kidney to him because he looked happy. It was also a fun holiday.