As a seemingly fit young man, Callum Renton initially presumed the throbbing back pain that hit him out of the blue was due to a muscle strain.

‘At the time I worked in a bank and spent most of the day sitting at a desk,’ says Callum, 25, a support worker from Fife, Scotland.

‘So I just assumed I’d pulled a muscle.’

He presumed the pain would ease in time, but instead the throbbing around his lower back got worse over the coming weeks – and soon was joined by another problem: a urinary tract infection (UTI).

‘I constantly needed to go to the loo, and my urine had bubbles in it and would sting when I passed it,’ he says.

‘And I felt tired all the time – I’d never had this before in my life.’

Callum then Googled his symptoms.

‘The word “kidney” came up, so I booked a GP appointment and asked if it could be that,’ he recalls.

‘But the doctor’s reply was: “No, you’re in your early 20s – you’re too young.” And he sent me home with antibiotics for the UTI.’

It took ten months of to-ing and fro-ing to his GP – and multiple courses of antibiotics for repeated UTIs – before he would get an accurate diagnosis.

Callum Renton researched his symptoms and found they were linked to kidney issues – only to be told by a GP that he was ‘too young’ for this to be the case

Callum did indeed have a problem with his kidneys. In fact, it was such a serious problem that now, five years on, he needs dialysis three times a week and is on the waiting list for a transplant.

And astonishingly, his is not an uncommon story.

According to estimates by the charity Kidney Research UK, more than seven million people in the UK have chronic kidney disease (CKD), where the kidneys are damaged and cannot filter blood properly.

And this could be a vast underestimate; according to research published in The Lancet last month, up to half of kidney disease cases remain undiagnosed, possibly because of vague or a lack of symptoms in its early stages.

Indeed, in the early stages when the kidney disease can often be easily treated, symptoms such as itching and frothing urine – caused by protein in your urine, a sign the kidneys aren’t filtering as they should – get missed, says Professor Simon Davies, an honorary consultant nephrologist (kidney specialist) at the University Hospital of North Midlands.

‘The problem with kidney disease is that often symptoms are not there or very mild,’ he says.

The kidneys are like a sieve, he explains, filtering out toxins from the blood and expelling that and excess fluid as urine.

When they are damaged, symptoms may include ‘tiredness or loss of appetite – both caused by a build-up of toxins in your blood [which the kidney should filter out],’ says Professor Davies, who is also a trustee of Kidney Research UK.

‘But people feel tired for all sorts of reasons – it can often be overlooked for long periods of time.’

Fluid retention is often another sign of kidney disease, as the kidneys control the balance of fluid in the body.

‘This can be visible in the ankles, or the face, especially around the eyes’, says Professor Davies. But it can be confused for other things such as allergies or weight gain, he adds.

‘Recurrent UTIs can also be an indicator of kidney problems and should be investigated – however, again, there are many possible causes aside from kidney disease.’ This infection and related inflammation may also cause pain felt in the back, close to where the kidneys are located.

When symptoms are overlooked by patients or misdiagnosed by their doctors, kidney disease can progress by scarring the kidneys, causing a loss in kidney function over time, explains Professor Davies.

‘The earlier treatment is started, the better the chance of slowing down this progression, which is why it’s so important to identify the problem early on,’ he adds.

‘If left, it can lead to kidney failure, when the kidneys are working at less than 15 per cent function. Once kidney function drops to 7 per cent, either dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed to survive.’

The added frustration, he says, is that simple blood and urine tests can identify kidney disease.

‘The levels of a waste product called creatinine can be measured in your blood – and a doctor uses those results, plus your age, size and gender to calculate how many millilitres of waste your kidneys should be able to filter in a minute. This is known as your estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).’

‘A urine albumin creatinine ratio (UACR) test can also be carried out to assess your kidney health. This measures the amount of protein in your urine, which can be an early sign of kidney damage.’

Professor Davies adds: ‘Yet when somebody is not believed to be at risk or symptoms are not identified as being related to kidney problems, they are unlikely to be given these tests.’

New research by the University of Glasgow found that in high-income countries including the UK, an estimated 30 to 50 per cent of chronic kidney disease cases are not diagnosed early enough to receive timely intervention.

Professor Davies says: ‘Kidney Research UK continues to call on the government to support the NHS to prioritise the prevention and early diagnosis of kidney disease, including an increase in the number of annual blood and urine tests to detect kidney damage.’

Callum was experiencing textbook symptoms as he was hit by one UTI after another.

‘Finally, after ten months of severe back pain, repeated UTIs, painful urination and constant tiredness, I went back to my GP and begged to be referred to a kidney specialist,’ he says.

‘By then had actually gained weight because I didn’t have the energy to be active.’

He waited seven months for a referral to a renal unit at hospital, where a test showed he had kidney dysfunction.

‘This was after ten months of pain and UTIs,’ he says. ‘But then I was put on yet another waiting list for a kidney biopsy to see how bad things were. I was started on blood pressure tablets and told I needed a kidney biopsy to find out what was causing the damage to my kidneys.’

Professor Davies says there are a ‘vast’ number of causes for kidney disease.

‘The most common causes of kidney disease are diabetes, which can damage the tiny filters in the kidneys, and high blood pressure, which can put a strain on the small blood vessels in the kidneys,’ he says.

Professor Simon Davies says the government is being called on to ‘prioritise the prevention and early diagnosis of kidney disease’

Callum firmly believes his young age delayed his diagnosis, saying that he doesn’t feel his ‘physical symptoms were recognised as quickly as they should have been’

However, there are other causes ranging from ageing, when kidneys may become smaller or lose some of their filtering units (called nephrons), making them less effective at removing waste and extra fluid from the blood.

Rising numbers of people with diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are projected to contribute to the number of people living with kidney disease, adding an additional 680,000 cases – and raising the total to 7.9 million – by 2033, according to a Kidney Research UK Report.

Genetics and lifestyle have a part to play – and more rarely it can be caused by autoimmune conditions, where the body mistakenly attacks the kidneys.

‘A young adult diagnosed with kidney disease is more likely to have been born with congenital abnormalities of the kidney and bladder,’ says Professor Davies.

‘This would prevent them from emptying their bladder properly, allowing infections to develop which can spread to the kidneys and cause damage. This can lead to further problems like high blood pressure which will make things worse.’

Callum was originally told his diagnosis was just ‘one of those things’.

It wasn’t until August 2022 – 18 months after his symptoms began – that he finally had a kidney biopsy, by which time his symptoms had worsened.

‘I lost weight, couldn’t get up in the mornings and vomited when I ate,’ he says. ‘I worked in a bank at the time and had to call in sick regularly.’

And the results were worse than they had expected. They showed he had IgA nephropathy (also known as Berger’s disease), an autoimmune condition where antibodies attack the kidneys’ filters gradually over time.

He needed dialysis, where a machine takes over the action of the kidneys, to remove extra fluid and waste products from the blood and maintain fluid and mineral balance – which in turn helps control blood pressure.

‘It was incredibly difficult to hear,’ says Callum.

‘Dialysis meant spending three days a week in hospital for four-and-a-half hours each session and completely changed my day-to-day life.’

Soon after his diagnosis, it was plain that Callum’s kidney function was declining ‘much faster than expected’.

He remained under the care of the renal team, had regular blood tests and monitoring, and continued taking blood-pressure medication (to reduce strain on the kidneys), but despite this his kidney function continued to decline.

While it is often not possible to cure kidney disease, steps should be taken to slow it down, says Professor Davies.

This could include prescribed medications and lifestyle changes, including making healthy food choices, keeping hydrated and managing other conditions that make it worse such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

‘If left, CKD can lead to kidney failure, where the only option is dialysis or a kidney transplant.’

Around 7,000 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK and six people die each week while on the waiting list.

‘On average, a kidney transplant lasts about 20 years, meaning people often need multiple in their lifetime,’ says Professor Davies. ‘It is a treatment, not a cure.’

Callum has dialysis three days a week for four-and-a-half hours each session. He had to leave his former job at a bank as a result and is on a kidney waiting list after it was discovered that none of his family are a suitable tissue match.

‘I try to enjoy life and carry on but I feel I am in a waiting game,’ he says.

‘I get tired a lot and can never make big plans as I always have to be near hospital for dialysis half the week.’

He firmly believes his young age delayed his diagnosis.

‘I don’t feel my physical symptoms were recognised as quickly as they should have been,’ he says.

‘I’m sharing my story so that anyone else with these symptoms receives the support, investigations and diagnosis they need as early as possible.’

Hitting 50 is one of life’s biggest milestones – and Kelly Clarke decided to celebrate by having IVF to become a first time mother. 

Now aged 55, she says that using a donor egg and sperm to welcome a little girl, who she named Lyla Rae, is one of the best decisions she ever made. 

She said: ‘Even though UK doctors called me geriatric, I had no medical problems at all.

‘I was at my peak fitness when I conceived and I had the most amazing pregnancy, feeling her inside me was my dream come true.’ 

Ms Clarke, who lives in Crawley, Sussex, decided it was time to explore motherhood after enjoying a 23-year career working as an air stewardess and then holding senior positions at Gatwick Airport. 

After being made redundant during the pandemic, she was forced to turn to universal credit before retraining as a swim teacher. 

In 2020, she travelled to Athens to undergo IVF, spending just under £3,000 including flights and accommodation. 

She chose to use an anonymous sperm donor so that she wouldn’t have to co-parent and could bring Lyla up exactly how she wanted to. 

Kelly Clarke with her daughter Lyla Rae, who was born in March 2021 following Greek IVF

Lyla, now five, was born in March 2021 weighing 7lbs 8oz. 

She said: ‘I conceived with a donor egg and donor sperm as the clinician said it was too risky to use my eggs and the official recommendation was a donor.

‘I trusted the experts completely.

‘She is not my egg but she is mine, I grew her and without me she wouldn’t be here.’

Since becoming a mum, Ms Clarke has encountered some struggles, particularly as a single mum, but feels being older helped her overcome the challenges.

‘I don’t think I would have done as well as I am now if I was a younger mum, it would have been different and I would have made it work, but I wouldn’t have been able to do as much,’ she said.

‘For me at this point of my life, I don’t look at her and think “I need a babysitter so that I can go out and do things”.

‘I’ve done the partying, I’ve done the flying, I’ve travelled, I’ve swam with sharks, I’ve done so much and I can show her all the pictures.

Ms Clarke after welcoming her much longed-for baby 

‘Now I can share the experiences with Lyla and I’m not looking at her wishing her life away just so I can get mine back.

‘My life is being a mummy and I’m living my best life.’

What has helped Ms Clarke is that she managed to pay off her mortgage in full just before Lyla’s first birthday, leaving her salary from working as a teaching assistant at Lyla’s school to be spent solely on family life. 

She said: ‘When I became a mum I needed a good set up, so I went and sorted the good set up myself.

‘I want to spend as much time as possible with Lyla Rae, I don’t want other people picking her up or dropping her off because that’s my job, so I went out to find something that fits around our schedule.

‘Lyla is amazing, I am so lucky. She is in reception at school and reads and writes so well, she knows my phone number, she is polite and kind.

‘She is so chatty and a proper storyteller, just like me.’

Ms Clarke is sharing her story days after a new study linked lower rates of IVF success in older women with womb-related ageing.

Researchers at IVIRMA Global Research Alliance, an assisted reproduction institute in Italy, have found that older women have a lower chance of successful fertility treatment even when using eggs donated by younger women – with success rates falling sharply from around the age of 49.

She recommends becoming a mother later in life to all her friends

The findings challenge the widespread belief that donor eggs can effectively ‘reset’ a woman’s reproductive clock. Researchers suggest that age-related changes to the womb lining may make it more difficult for an embryo to implant and develop successfully.

The study, involving 1,774 women, identified the age of 49 as a potential tipping point, after which the risks associated with treatment may begin to outweigh the benefits despite the use of young donor eggs.

Compared with women aged between 35 and 40, those over 49 were significantly less likely to have a live birth and had more than twice the odds of suffering a miscarriage.

The findings come as increasing numbers of women undergo fertility treatment later in life. Figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the UK’s fertility regulator, show that the number of women in their fifties having IVF with donor eggs has risen by 67 per cent over the past decade.

Ms Clarke is happy to encourage other women to look into becoming mothers later in life. 

‘I’ve spoken to a few friends who were umming and ahhing about it and I would 100 per cent recommend doing it,’ she said.

‘You’ll regret not doing it as once that baby is here, the love is worth everything and you’ll think thank goodness I did it.

‘I couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone who was thinking about having a kid – just do it. 

‘At the end of the day you’re as old as you feel.’ 

Experts often highlight that older mothers face increased risks – as do their unborn children, who are more likely to have genetic conditions. 

But Ms Clarke claims she experienced minimal side effects.  

‘All I suffered from were migraines but I already suffered from them and I couldn’t take my normal medicine,’ she said.

‘The only cravings were strawberries and pineapple and the only thing that got fat were my ankles.’