WHEN Charlotte Douglas was told she was suffering with Crohn's disease she thought the illness would be her biggest hindrance.

But years after docs gave her the diagnosis, the debilitating condition actually saved her life.

Having the illness meant the 25-year-old had to go for regular blood tests.

And it was during one of these appointments that the science teacher was diagnosed with kidney disease – two years before her symptoms began. 

Charlotte, from Stockton-on-Tees, Durham was first diagnosed with Crohn's as a teenager, after she saw her weight plummet.

She also said she had been 'rushing to the toilet 20 times a day'.

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“One of the reasons I didn’t get checked sooner was because I was too embarrassed to tell anyone I was going to the loo so often.

“I didn’t want to talk about it to anyone, not even my parents,” she said. 

Crohn's disease is an life-long condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system and it's thought that over half a million Brits live with the condition.

After her Crohn's diagnosis in 2014, Charlotte's quality of life significantly improved.

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She was put on "triple treatment” of immunosuppressants and was told she would have to get blood tests taken every eight weeks to monitor her health.

“Over the next two or three months I had drastic improvements – I went from really horrible and uncomfortable to feeling fine,” she explained.

Just a few years later, during Charlotte's second year of University in 2017, routine blood tests revealed the student's kidney's were not working as they should be.

Charlotte had a noticeably high creatinine level, which indicated that her kidneys were not effectively filtering waste from her blood.

She was soon referred to a kidney specialist but no one was able to find the cause for her rapidly declining kidney function.

"All through, I felt completely fine and normal. I knew it was happening but it was weird because I couldn’t feel anything different,” she said.

“People would ask me how I was feeling and I would just tell them I’m fine. I thought at some point I’ll need to feel something.”

Despite feeling fine, Charlotte said doctors were able to plan ahead for when they believed her condition would become critical.

Kidney disease is often called a 'silent killer' as for many, symptoms don't show until the advanced stage of the illness.

In August 2019 she had surgery to have a tube fitted through her stomach in case she needed to go on dialysis — a procedure removes waste from the blood when kidneys stop working.

What are the signs of disease you need to know

KIDNEY failure is a long-term condition where the organs that filter waste products from the blood don’t work as they should.

If your kidneys fail your body can become overloaded with toxins and this can be life-threatening if the condition is left untreated.

Possible symptoms include:

• a reduced amount of urine
• swelling of your legs, ankles, and feet
• unexplained shortness of breath
• excessive drowsiness or fatigue
• persistent nausea
• confusion
• pain or pressure in your chest
• seizures
• coma

A few months later in October the tube saved her life when her kidney function dropped drastically and she was rushed into hospital for dialysis.

“I had no symptoms from it at all but my body was full of toxins, which is why they call it the silent killer.

"If my kidney function had continued to drop without treatment, it could have been fatal,” she said.

Charlotte was left in need of a new kidney, which her Mum was able to donate.

The teacher said she believed that her Crohn’s "saved [her] life".

"I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t caught it early… I would have gotten much more poorly because I only showed symptoms very late," she said.

She added: "I wouldn’t have known anything was wrong until the summer of 2019, and my kidney function at that stage was close to being kidney failure.

"But we were able to plan ahead, and my mum worked so hard and was so determined to lose the weight so she could be my donor and save my life," she explained.

Charlotte is now hoping to raise awareness for Crohn’s disease and show other transplant recipients they can lead a “happy and healthy” life.

The teacher is planning to run in the 5,000m and 1,500m races at the European Transplant and Dialysis Sports Games in Oxford this week (August 21-28).

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More than 400 transplant recipients and dialysis patients from over 25 countries across Europe will be competing in the sporting event, which includes disciplines ranging from football and volleyball to discus and petanque.

The event is organised by Transport Sport, a UK charity raising awareness of organ donation and the importance of staying active following a transplant.

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