I dialysed successfully for nearly 10 years in Sydney but I was determined to live as much of a normal life as I could. To stay as healthy as possible, I found that if I dialysed five times a week at three hours a time, and on HDF machines, I was in tip-top health.

That allowed my wife and I to enjoy three overseas trips, organising dialysis by the world wide website- www.globaldialysis.com which lists most clinics and centres around the world.

In 2004 we spent a week in Paris and a week in Calpe, Spain. In 2005 we spent five weeks driving around France. For holidays I drop back to three times a week at five hours a time dialysis.

The final trip in 2007 was five weeks in Istanbul, Vienna, Venice, Taormina in Sicily and Rome.

My transplant in February 2010 has been marvelous and I now enjoy all the freedom I wanted — but dialising, if planned, can let you do most things too!

So, do not give up but continue to enjoy life to its fullest!

Maxwell