Since the age of 5, Kathy has battled with her health. Being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes was just the start of a very long and painful journey. Kathy and her partner Chris were married in 2006. Not long after the wedding the couple got some wonderful news that Kathy was pregnant! However due to illness, Kathy miscarried in the third trimester. After the 3rd miscarriage, Kathy decided enough is enough and thought maybe the doctors predictions of her not being able to have a child were right, so the couple gave up on the dream to become parents. The following months Kathy was prescribed new type of insulin along with being referred to an Ophthalmologist (a Diabetes eye care specialist) where she was then diagnosed with Diabetic Retinopathy, a condition that damages the blood vessels inside the retina leading to vision loss and blindness. Kathy underwent laser eye surgery and a Vitrectomy (surgery to remove vitreous humour from the eye). A costly and painful procedure, but had to be done if Kathy wanted to be able to see. During the eye surgery recovery, Kathy fell pregnant, but didn’t allow herself to get excited as she was sure it would end the same way as the others. At 28 weeks pregnant, Kathy’s health started to waiver. Kathy was admitted to hospital with pre-eclampsia where she got the news that she would have to have an emergency caesarean while just 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant. In October 2009, Noah Abbott was born at just 1.2 kilos, fighting to survive. Noah didn’t make it into Kathy’s arms until 2 weeks later as he was rushed straight to the Special Care Unit. Due to Noah being so premature he remained on oxygen and a nasal tube for feeding for the first few months of his life. He then remained on oxygen for the first seven months of his life. After several specialist appointments Noah was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia, which is a type of Cerebral Palsy, mainly affects the mobility of the lower half of his body. Months of physiotherapy were required and the couple were advised that their boy might not ever be able to walk. But Noah, just like his mother, defied the doctors predications and began to walk. After Noah’s first birthday, Kathy fell pregnant with twins. Being such a high risk due to her health doctors were very concerns with her body now bearing double the weight. Kathy reached 24 weeks where she was diagnosed again with pre-eclampsia and admitted to the Mater Hospital, Brisbane. The family stayed in the Ronald McDonald house until Kathy went into labour at just 31 weeks. Unable to stop the labour she was given an emergency caesarean. Kathy almost didn’t make it through surgery; she lost over 2 litres of blood, flat-lined, was resuscitated and required a blood transfusion. Kathy spent some time in Intensive Care Unit recovering and her twins, although premature, were in good health. A few months later, Kathy’s health started to decline; Diabetes, high blood pressure, waning kidney function as well and having new born twins and a child with Cerebral Palsy all started taking it’s toll on Kathy. The family moved to Moranbah which was nearer to Chris’s work, which meant he could be home every night and closer to Kathy as she needed him urgently. The move was just in time as Kathy started to experience dizzy spells from her diminishing iron levels. Kathy was referred to a renal specialist where she was told her that her kidney function was down to a low 17%. She was then informed that it would continue to drop and would need to wait for it to drop to 10% before she could start dialysis. The waiting game was a tiring one for Kathy as she was completely bedridden with no energy at all. When she returned to the doctors her levels had dropped to just 6% kidney function. Kathy had to go straight in for a haemodialysis procedure, which involved having a catheter inserted into her neck, running across her lungs and resting on her heart, to clean and filter her blood. The next day Kathy had an operation to insert the peritoneal dialysis catheter. Usually a simple day surgery operation, turned into a week in hospital due to bleeding complications. She had to bleed out for 3 hours, while nurses applied excruciating pressure to try to stem the blood flow. The Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) catheter had to be in place for 6 weeks until it was able to be used; in the meantime she had HD (haemodialysis) treatment. This meant that Chris and Kathy would have to drive into Mackay from Moranbah which is over 200kms on country roads every two days, have 5 hours of dialysis treatment, then drive back home. This went on for 3 months, during this time they travelled over 15,000kms. Two weeks into having home PD, Kathy received a call from her transplant co-ordinator at Westmead Hospital in Sydney as they wanted to see her to assess the possibility of a dual kidney and pancreas transplant. After testing, the surgeons announced that Kathy was a suitable candidate and placed her on the transplant list. On the last night of a well-deserved family holiday Kathy woke up in the middle of the night with pains in her chest and having trouble breathing. Just thinking that it was heartburn Kathy disregarded it and went back to sleep. By morning the pain was unbearable and the ambulance was called. Shockingly, Kathy at just 29 years of age had suffered a heart attack. Due to suffering a heart attack, Kathy needed to have a procedure to have a stint in her heart, which meant that she was then removed from the active transplant list. 6 months later Kathy’s health had improved and she was back on the active transplant list. However a few weeks later Kathy was flown out of the small mining town of Moranbah to Mackay and treated for pericarditis which is fluid around the heart. Another week spent in hospital and removed from the transplant list again. Kathy was then diagnosed with an extreme case of pneumonia and a collapsed lung with a remarkable amount of fluid around it. Kathy also had a reaction to the pain medication causing constant nausea, unable to keep any food or liquids down, resulting in eight kilograms of weight loss in under a week. The removal of the fluid on her lungs was a painful process – having a tube inserted through her back, the process took two days and Kathy remained in hospital for another eleven nights. Just 2 weeks later the fluid had returned and Kathy was admitted back into hospital to go through the draining process all over again. In January 2015, Kathy started having pain in her legs, further testing discovered that due to Type 1 Diabetes and the poor blood flow had caused Diabetic ulcers in her right foot, which had then turned to gangrene. Kathy had a procedure to remove 3 of her toes, leaving her with just her big toe and middle toe. After the procedure while doctors were putting a vac dressing on, they realised they would need to amputate more. The next day Kathy was in for another surgery to have the rest of her foot amputated. 3 months later, the gangrene had not cleared and Kathy had to have further amputation up to her knee. In October 2015, her left foot started to also turn gangrene, resulting in Kathy getting quite sick. Doctors not wanting to risk Kathy’s health anymore amputated her left leg in December. Just weeks ago, Kathy woke up with a terrible cough and pains in her chest, rushed straight to hospital and Kathy was diagnosed with Pneumonia. Kathy was deteriorating quickly, doctors didn’t waste any more time and flew Kathy straight to the Mackay hospital. Kathy went into cardiac arrest while being transferred into the ER then moved to Intensive Care Unit where she placed on life support, she arrested a further 11 times. Doctors performed 12 rounds of CPR on Kathy until she was stable. Kathy was on life support for a further 3 days. The doctor was stunned that Kathy had survived, telling her husband that he had not seen someone go into cardiac arrest that many times and come out the other side with their faculties intact the way hers were. Over time due to her health, Kathy has gone on and off the transplant list 3 times and is currently in the process of going back on once again. Kathy is in the process of getting prosthetic limbs made. Kathy has battled her health for over 26 years. She has endured much more than most people will ever have to. Even with all of the odds against her she has so much strength and courage and continues to fight for her life every day. Unfortunately the family is under extreme financial pressure with the ongoing cost of treatments, travel, accommodation, time off work, medicines, insulin’s, pain kills, the list goes on. In the small mining town of Moranbah on March 19 at the Moranbah Golf Club, there will be a charity golf day. Hit4Hope for Kathy Abbott, with all funds raised straight to the Abbott family. The golf day is aiming to raise much needed funds and awareness of Kathy’s story in hope she will receive more support for her ongoing treatment.