Zahid's Inspiring Kidney Health Journey

Patients’ Journeys

Zahid Bhatti — Founder and Chair, Global Kidney Foundation

I grew up happy. School, university, a close family, loyal friends, and later a loving wife. I built businesses and kept moving. Then a doctor told me my kidneys were failing. Chronic Kidney Disease. Three words that changed everything.

I began peritoneal dialysis. For the first 15 months I did not travel at all. Twice during this period I developed peritonitis, the PD-related infection of the peritoneum, usually caused by germs getting into the dialysis system. It brings severe abdominal pain, often cloudy dialysis fluid and fever, and needs prompt antibiotics. After that period, travel meant packing tubes and disinfectant. Nights were spent connected to a white machine that hummed while I tried to sleep. I woke frustrated, ate cautiously, and carried a quiet fear that this might be my new normal. Work helped me hold on to myself, but there were days I felt like a shell.

Support kept me upright. Doctors and nurses who guided me. Family who waited and prayed. My wife who stood with me even when she was shaken and unsure. Faith stitched the days together.

In November 2011 hope got a face. My real brother, Ali Bhatti, stepped forward to donate his kidney. We went to theatre as two sons and two brothers, bound by love and risk. My mother saw both her boys on operating stretchers and prayed through her tears. My wife held herself together for all of us.

Minutes after surgery began, everything changed. My body rejected the kidney almost immediately. Five minutes. Gratitude turned to shock. Ali woke to a scar and a loss he had chosen out of love. I saw the pain in his eyes and felt it in my own chest. For months we learned a new kind of courage. We forgave what no one could control. My mother carried another weight, her faith steady but her heart bruised

After the failure of that first transplant, I moved to hemodialysis. New needles, new routines, and a different rhythm of waiting. I kept a list of small wins to stay grounded. I prayed often. I stayed in the fight.

Almost two years later, around dawn, the phone rang. There was a match from a deceased donor. I rushed to the hospital. By late afternoon the team said they were taking me in. I remember the theatre lights and a simple prayer under my breath.

This time the kidney woke up. Numbers moved the right way. Tubes came out one by one. A stranger’s decision to register as an organ donor gave me my second chance at life. I think of that person often.

Recovery was not a straight line, but relief began to outweigh fear. I was grateful for my wife’s endurance, Ali’s courage, my mother’s prayers, and the clinicians who treated me like a person first. Colleagues welcomed me back.

After the second transplant I wanted to do more than return to business. Too many people were living the same grind with too few donors. I founded the Global Kidney Foundation, gkf.org.uk, to share real stories, support families, and advocate for patients. We back the transplant games, support Royal London Hospital, and run free health checks in the West Midlands. We talk about prevention, early testing, and what dialysis looks like when the world is asleep.

This journey has been full of emotions, rejections, and stubborn hope on top of faith. Strength is not the absence of fear. It shows up to appointments, keeps relationships honest, and lets people help.

If you are a patient, hold on and ask every question. If you love a patient, stay close and learn the terms. If you are healthy, please consider registering as an organ donor. Your signature can turn a phone call into a life restarted.

Give hope. Give life. Join us at the Global Kidney Foundation.