Zowi’s happiness

Mar 13 2008 by Matthew Thomas, Pontypridd Observer

WHEN little Zowiann Flood turns 13 in a fortnight’s time, she will be able to eat her first ever slice of birthday cake.

Thanks to a kidney transplant received just before New Year, her young life has been transformed.

“She’s been eating and using her legs a lot more than she used to. Seeing her now, it’s hard to believe it’s Zowi,” said her father, Patrick.

“She loves sausage rolls, don’t ask me why. “Watching her tucking into one of those is like watching someone eat a t-bone steak with all the trimmings!”

Zowiann, of Lanwern Road, Maesycoed, has Falconi’s cystinosis, a rare genetic condition, present in only 150 people in the UK.

Before the transplant, which came on December 29 of last year, both of her kidneys had perforations preventing them from retaining essential nutrients needed to keep her body going.

She relied upon a combination of drugs and dialysis to keep her condition stable and had trouble eating and so was fed at night, through a tube.

Everyday tasks like going to school became too much for her. Mum Lorraine, aged 47, was undergoing tests to see if her tissue matched her daughter’s closely enough for a transplant.

Now, thanks to an anonymous donor, she is enjoying the freedom of life without the dialysis machine.

“We took our annual family holiday a little bit later this year because of Zowi’s operation. It was four weeks to the day she had the procedure that we left.

“Normally because of the dialysis equipment we have to put everything on the roof rack but we just loaded it up into the car this year. I thought we’d forgotten it when we got to the site,” said Patrick, aged 53.

“She was going horse riding, playing badminton. It was amazing.”

But the family’s joy is tinged by the source of Zowi’s new happiness. “We know that the donor organ came from a 45-year-old lady, with two children,” said Patrick. “We’re going to write her family a letter to let them know how much this means to us. We can see both sides of the coin”

Zowiann is still making daily visits to the hospital for adjustments to her regime of anti-rejection drugs.

“It’s a balancing act,” said Patrick. “The drugs that stop the body from rejecting the kidney are not themselves kidney-friendly drugs. So we have to go back every day to have the levels adjusted.”

But when Kathryn Jenkins, who has followed Zoe’s progress for years, rang up to invite the family to a Cardiff book signing, they couldn’t say no. “She gave us tickets to see her in Cardiff in May, so we’re looking forward to that,” said Patrick.