成人论坛

Nazifa is a 成人论坛 WM Kidney Kid

Rebika Alam from Sheldon is just like any mother, trying her best to juggle her family life with other commitments. But unlike many other parents, she has something preying on her mind every day - her daughter鈥檚 health.

Her daughter Nazifa is six-years-old and is a renal patient at Birmingham Children鈥檚 Hospital. Rebika has to take her daughter to the hospital three times a week for dialysis.

Being diagnosed

Nazifa was five-years-old when she was diagnosed, Rebika explains:

Nazifa on dialysis

鈥淚t all happened suddenly last November just after I had my baby 鈥he kept on growing bigger鈥� in the end the doctors said her kidneys don鈥檛 work鈥�

Initial reaction

Left shocked and speechless Rebika says she simply couldn鈥檛 believe what the doctors were telling her.

鈥淚 still don鈥檛 believe it听 ...I still believe my daughters kidneys are gonna survive even though the doctors don鈥檛 believe it鈥� when I found out I was braindead... all I did was cry, I couldn鈥檛 stop crying. I kept asking why is it happening to my daughter. Why? But I had to accept the fact and get on with it."

Nazifa playing with a nurse

Accepting reality

Rebika knew that she had to be strong for her daughter and accept that her daughter was sick. She was aware of kidney problems in the family, as her step brother鈥檚 daughter also suffered from similar problems. However she never thought that this would be happening to her child.

鈥淲hen it happens to your own you get puzzled, getting here three times a week is hard, she was so big...she burst...she started leaking...she couldn鈥檛 walk...and was bed-ridden for three months鈥�

Trying to be positive

The doctors told Rebika that her daughter needs to maintain a healthy, balanced diet to keep her strong.

She says: 鈥淚nitially when Nazifa does go onto the transplant list - then she will be strong enough to go through with the transplant. I am hoping to get her onto PD which is another kind of dialysis that you do at home, so she can go to school full time. This is much better for her and myself as well.鈥�

Nazifa spends a lot of time in hospital.

A new renal unit

Rebika is extremely grateful to Birmingham鈥檚 Children鈥檚 Hospital for all of their help. She says at the moment the renal unit can get very crowded and she would be over the moon with a new one.

鈥淎s you can see there鈥檚 not much space鈥� there are new people coming every day...they could do a new renal unit definitely.鈥�

Click the link below to listen to Rebika's story: