I had the pleasure of speaking with Fez Awan; Chairman of RPLAN, NHS Blood & Transplant Ambassador and three times kidney transplant recipient, about his prodigious and inspiring journey as a patient and organisational leader within renal transplantation.
Fez aged 3, ready to receive his April Fool’s Transplant.
Fez was born with total renal failure and was subsequently registered on the paediatric kidney transplant waiting list. On April 1st 1989, it was thought to be a normal day, Fez and his parents were at home, the phone rung, and Fez’s father was informed a compatible kidney was ready to be donated to three-year-old Fez. Of course, his father didn’t believe the news at first, it was April Fool’s Day after all, so it must have been a prank, and so he hung up the phone! Fortuitously, no prank had been made, which was reiterated to Fez’s mother during the second phone call. It was time for young Fez to undergo his April Fool’s Transplant!
As time passed, Fez underwent all modalities of dialysis to support his ongoing renal care, such as peritoneal dialysis. This is an alternative to haemodialysis which involves a gradual diversion of the patient’s blood into a dialysis machine, to be filtered of waste products, allowing the re-entry of clean blood into the patient’s body (Agarwal & Wilkie, 2023).
Haemodialysis supports blood pressure as well as balancing the circulatory pH and plasma electrolytes. The average patient requires three sessions a week, lasting up to four hours per session. Close communication and support from Fez’s multi-disciplinary renal care team, enabled peritoneal dialysis exchanges between the hospital and his home, allowing young Fez to be more independent.
When Fez was a teen, he wanted to have dialysis exchanges on-site, at secondary school, which became problematic due to the impracticalities of transporting the equipment to school each day, as well as trying to ensure adequate space to utilise that would uphold his privacy and dignity. Subsequently, Fez progressed onto Automatic Peritoneal Dialysis which would be carried out at home during the night time. Aged 15, and just about to enter into his GCSE years, Fez’s kidney started to fail and so his father gave him the ultimate gift: the gift of life. Fez received his 2nd renal transplant, donated by his father, on May 4th 2000; Star Wars Day! Despite this, Fez prefers Marvel over Star Wars.
Fez, now a young man, entered higher education to study Film and Media Production, which unfortunately, he had to withdraw from as his Millenium transplant began to fail. Clinicians supported Fez as he trialled a variety of dialysis treatments, but all were deemed unsuitable. He then established success with at-home haemodialysis management, which although hindering, due to dominating most of the day, was mildly convenient as Fez got to watch Netflix, whilst his brothers served him cups of tea! Due to the time barriers the at-home haemodialysis created, Fez switched to a nocturnal dialysis treatment, which he continued with for five years, before he received his third transplant at the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In total, Fez has received three kidney transplants which he refers to as his; April Fool’s Day, Millenium, and Pandemic Transplants.
Fez was purposeful with furthering his already extensive knowledge and experience regarding renal transplantation, in order to help others and associated with the NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT), he became part of the first NHSBT Community Investment Scheme. This enabled him to introduce his very own workshops within the community and imminently within schools, driving crucial, first-hand education for the public. Fez is also a Peer Educator for Kidney Research UK, helping to bridge gaps of knowledge and understanding in regard to kidney disease, he encourages the engagement of ethnic minority groups to take part in research, in order to promote a true representation of the population. Impressively Fez’s efforts don’t end here, as he is also the Chairman of the increasingly expanding RPLAN; Renal Patient Led Advisory Network, offering advocacy and support for renal patients in the North-West.
Fez is committed to breaking through barriers impeding equality and diversity within organ donation and encouraging the normalisation of what is generally deemed as ‘difficult conversations’, amongst people from all walks of life. Fez believes with all the education and conversations that can be had, the fundamental message behind the nationwide collaborative effort is clear; the greatest gift a person can give, is to help someone who is suffering.
Agarwal, S. and Wilkie, M. (2023) “Peritoneal dialysis,” Medicine [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mpmed.2022.12.011.