Kidney Matters - Issue 9 Summer 2020
Kidney Matters is our free quarterly magazine for everyone affected by kidney disease.
This issue includes some advice on keeping busy during lockdown, tips on managing your diet and weight, insight into the life of a carer, and an interview with the fabulous 'Marilyn' (front cover). As well as this the we have some delicious kidney-friendly cherry filo pastry tarts in the Kidney Kitchen and our Kidney Clinic discusses the advantages and disadvantages of prednisolone.
Kidney Matters is our free quarterly magazine for everyone affected by kidney disease.
This issue includes some advice on keeping busy during lockdown, tips on managing your diet and weight, insight into the life of a carer, and an interview with the fabulous 'Marilyn' (front cover). As well as this the we have some delicious kidney-friendly cherry filo pastry tarts in the Kidney Kitchen and our Kidney Clinic discusses the advantages and disadvantages of prednisolone.
12Life, loves, cross-dressing,and fishing on the AvonFEATURE ARTICLEWe know there are some great characters amongst us, and that we all choose to tacklethe massive footprint chronic kidney disease (CKD) leaves on our lives, in our ownway. But rarely do we receive a letter quite as colourful and entertaining as the one wereceived from Brian Bennet, aka ‘Marilyn’, on his gutsy approach to life.I’ve made some cracking decisions in my life. One ofthese was deciding to buy myself out of a successfularmy career whilst feeling less than 100%. A couple ofmonths down the road there I was facing the diagnosisof CKD. Bye-bye medical discharge on full pension!Four weeks after the operation to remove my kidney, Ihad an appointment with my renal consultant who toldme that my other kidney was also not working well. Hesaid, “You’ll be lucky to live to see your 60th birthday.”I write this piece at the proud age of 66. I have been ondialysis for 23 years now.I have had many serious health scares over the years:six mini strokes, sepsis twice, over 20 stents in myheart, and two failed transplants. I have had moreoperations and procedures than Katy Price!I fell in love with Diane, my now wife of 40 years, on theday I first saw her. We have been lucky enough to havehad two children, Stephanie and Shaun, and we havealso been blessed with two gorgeous granddaughters,Clementine and Beatrice, who are my world.When my first transplant failed, I was in a very darkplace and thought seriously about giving up on dialysisand letting nature take its course. It was at this timethat I decided to write a children’s book called ‘A Walkwith Granddad’. I wanted to let any grandchildren whomight appear after my death, know me in some way.It took me a while to get the book illustrated and printed,which turned out to be a good thing, because just afterthe printed book had been delivered, I received thecall to go into hospital for asecond transplant. My firsttransplant had lasted sixhours. This second one lastedjust four. I came around intheatre lying on a trolley, notknowing what had happened.Not only was I not wellphysically, mentally I was shotto pieces. My wonderful nurseKate May Harris was at my sideand we cried together.On the way home from thishospital stay I sat in the frontpassenger seat of our car andkidneycareuk.orgMany thanks to Veronica McAleer, a professionaltheatre make-up artist and herassistant who volunteered their time andexpertise to transform Brian into Marilyn.www.mmakup.commy daughter, Steph was sitting behind me. She said thewords “I’m pregnant Dad” and those three words arewhy I am still here today.Being a country lad, born and raised in the Vale ofEvesham, I have always been involved in shooting andfishing. School for me was not a good experience. Iwould often sneak off and go fishing rather than go toschool. It soon became clear that I had a gift for fishingand my name began to appear in the local papers andalso in national angling magazines. Before long I wasseconded into a match fishing team. As time went onand my name became more well known, I was luckyenough to end up fishing for some of the top teamsin the country, and also to be invited to prestigiousangling events all over the country.Over the years I have also raised thousands of poundsfor different charities, mainly by doing a comedy drag actas ‘Tina Burner’, ‘Shirley Trashy’ or as ‘Marilyn Munro’. ForMarilyn, I have a white ‘blow up’ dress and a ready-madefan-base too. My song is, ‘I just wanna be loved by you’.I did eventually write that book and called it ‘A BadseyBoy’. On the front, underneath the title, it reads‘Collected memories of life, loves, cross-dressing, andfishing the Avon’. From that one small acorn a largertree has grown and in the last five years I have writtenand self-published the following books, which are allavailable for purchase online from Amazon.Children’s Books: The Naughty Gnome, Zolem,Philomena and the Stolen Kiss.Fiction novels: Thumbprint inthe Dome, The Ghosts of LevelNine.Erotic fiction: Into the void, TheIntelligent Gardener.If someone like myself, who leftschool at 15, poorly educated,short, fat, unhealthy but verygood looking, can achievewhat I have achieved, then justthink what someone like youcan do. Get out there, make adifference, don’t waste yourlife. Life is precious, enjoy it,write a book.Photography (and front cover) by Stuart James@ www.emotiveeye.co.uk
13“If someone like myself, who leftschool at 15, poorly educated,short, fat, unhealthy but very goodlooking, can achieve what I haveachieved, then just think whatsomeone like you can do.Get out there, make adifference, don’t wasteyour life. Life isprecious, enjoy it,write a book.”My wife, Diane, and me
- Page 1 and 2: Summer 2020Issue 09Drag queensand d
- Page 3 and 4: 3Welcome toKidney MattersCoronaviru
- Page 5 and 6: 5And for the budding chefs, now rea
- Page 7 and 8: 7So, does a high BMI number really
- Page 9 and 10: 9were set at a pace I could realist
- Page 11: LEARN MORE11Survivors: Life Unfilte
- Page 15 and 16: 15step is to check that you are tak
- Page 17 and 18: LEARN MORE17the first week of the t
- Page 19 and 20: 19Cook along with Chef Ripley onlin
- Page 21 and 22: 21Through these three elements - qu
- Page 23 and 24: 23the day, began to get to me. One
- Page 25 and 26: Members of the Kidney Care UK teamr
- Page 27 and 28: LEARN MORE27Kidney Matters helps us
- Page 29 and 30: 29It’s never too late...When 83 y
- Page 31 and 32: 31Today I feel amazing, and that’
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- Page 35 and 36: 06 35Become a#KidneyWarriorChalleng
- Page 37 and 38: Us enjoying a nice cup of tea37
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“If someone like myself, who left
school at 15, poorly educated,
short, fat, unhealthy but very good
looking, can achieve what I have
achieved, then just think what
someone like you can do.
Get out there, make a
difference, don’t waste
your life. Life is
precious, enjoy it,
write a book.”
My wife, Diane, and me
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