Kilrea woman Sorcha Shaw takes to social media to appeal for a new kidney to give her another 15 years of life

Sorchá Shaw is only 25 but is too scared to ask her doctors what her life expectancy is. If she gets a new kidney she was told it could give her another 15 years.

She has had kidney trouble since she was 17, had type one diabetes since she was nine, and had a heart attack at the beginning of last year - and then had a triple bypass.

She has also been diagnosed with triple vessel heart disease and severe nerve damage in her eyes and retinopathy - which are destroying her eyesight.

All her conditions can be traced back to serious type one diabetes; her beloved father Martin had type one diabetes and heart disease and passed away of a heart attack five years ago. Sorchá's kidneys are currently functioning at only six per cent and she spends four hours, three days a week, on dialysis, leaving her feeling she has "run a marathon".

Just 18 months ago she was told she was not eligible for a kidney transplant because she needed a triple heart bypass. However she was initially told a bypass was not possible due to her damaged kidneys.

Six months later a surgeon offered to do the operation and she "took a chance at life and just went for it. I had nothing to lose...it was just life or death."

But now she has fought back to recover from the operation, she has faced another huge blow.

This week she was told that she was too fragile to receive a kidney via the normal NHS channel of a deceased donor, and that only a kidney from a live donor would be safe for her.

"I just felt like I was panicking when I was told. And I was just thinking, what am I going to do now?" she said. But then she recalled having seen people make public appeals for live kidney donors. "And I just thought, I'm going to do it too, because if they can do it, then I can too."

At that point she immediately put out her predicament along with a donor appeal, on her Facebook page.

She has no siblings and a small family and social circle, so she felt it was best to go public with her appeal immediately. At present she is exhausted if she tries to walk 500m and her failing eyesight means it is already a struggle to write and read her own handwriting. Her sight cannot be restored but a kidney transplant would stop the deterioration in its tracks.

Sorchá lives with her mum Mairead McAuley, who is also her carer. Growing up with so many health challenges she hoped to one day work with children with special needs.

A kidney donor could potentially mean she could once again dream of a career supporting children.

"I've been through a lot as a child so I think I could relate to a lot of kids,” she said. "And like any woman of my age, I would love a family and to have my own house.

"But right now I just feel lonely - so alone and isolated from people my age. I would just love to get back to life, get back to the way it should be."

Her appeal is being supported by former Upper Bann MLA Jo-Anne Dobson, who donated her own kidney to her son and is now Northern Ireland Ambassador for charity Kidney Care UK.

Mrs Dobson said: "Sorchá is a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. As a close-knit family we are rallying round to support her - she is one of our own!"

• If you are interested in donating a kidney to Sorchá, contact The Living Donor Team at www.donatelife.co.uk on 028 9504 3872 and express an interest, citing Sorchá Shaw, and her date of birth 28/10/1998.