Eight years later, Mohammed was back to square one when his kidney went into failure again, leading him to fall into depression.
However, a turning point came when he was invited to attend a patient workshop at the University of Salford, where people with kidney conditions shared their experiences.
“It offers patient support, information, guidance, peer support, and it’s just an opportunity for us to come together because it can be quite a lonely place,” he said.
“A light bulb went off and I thought, well, why isn’t this everywhere?”
Mohammed therefore set up BrAdKIN – the Bradford & Airedale Kidney Information Network.
Its first event saw patients, carers and clinicians come together at St Luke’s Hospital, part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where Mohammed receives renal dialysis three times a week.
“People sometimes just want to talk to somebody who understands what it’s like to be on dialysis, live with kidney disease or be waiting for a transplant,” he said.
“When you’re used to working for 28 years, waking up, going and earning a living, to then suddenly just being at home and going to hospital, you isolate from your friends and people that love you because you’re in this dark hole.
“But fortunately for me, I’ve got a loving family, loving friends, and I needed a new purpose.”
Mohammed has now spent four years on the national transplant waiting list in the hope of a second life-saving transplant.
