In 2024 Kidney Care UK launched its first ever national awareness campaign, celebrating our #BloodyAmazingKidneys. The response was, quite frankly, bloody amazing!

In just one month over 110,000 people completed the Kidney Care UK online risk checker to see if they might be at increased risk of kidney disease and the campaign was shared far and wide across the UK. It was even talked about in Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Spain. The charity continues to run the campaign in 2025 and beyond and have now added in a new element, the 'My Bloody Amazing Kidneys Challenge' - where you set yourself a challenge to raise funds and awareness of our #BloodyAmazingKidneys

As part of Kidney Care UK's My Bloody Amazing Kidneys Challenge I've set myself the challenge of knitting 64 beanie hats (Kidney Beanies, if you will!) for the 64 dialysis patients at the nearest dialysis unit to me (Basingstoke). That's about 8 hats each month as I need to deliver them to the unit in September, and I am hoping to raise £500 for the charity at the same time.

People on dialysis usually feel icy cold all the time due to anaemia so these hats will be useful all year round but especially in winter. There are also currently 6,399 (practically 6,400) people waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK right now so each one will represent 100 people in need of a kidney too.

Any donation is welcome but if you donate more than £10 then I'll add a note that this individual hat was sponsored by you. I'll be using wool I have already, or purchasing from charity shops. If you have any spare wool you could donate too, that would be appreciated!

Because Kidney Care UK turns 50 in 2025 I'm aiming to raise £500 (because £50 really wasn't going to be enough!). I know that's a big ask and that many of us are struggling. But any support you can give will make a genuine real difference to both the charity, and to the patients having dialysis 3-4 times a week for 3-4 hours at a time. When you're on dialysis you need a machine to do the work of your kidneys. It's gruelling, relentless and if you don't have it, you die.

Oh and I may also be taking part in a 'plane pull' in August too...!