LIFE turned upside down for Katie Irving when she was diagnosed with permanent kidney failure following a bout of flu last year, reports Justin Hawkins.

"It came out of the blue, I had never been ill in my life before. One minute I was fine the next minute I had kidney failure," said Katie.

With the help of friends, family and boyfriend Duncan, she has adjusted well to the radical change in lifestyle caused by the vasculitis which took her to death's door and left her dependent on three kidney dialysis sessions a week, each lasting up to four-and-a-half hours.

Now, as she and her family get ready for a transplant operation which will see her father, Hugh, donate one of his kidneys to make her better, the 22-year-old is planning to raise money for Westmorland General Hospital's dialysis unit.

All her family had tests, but her dad's kidney turned out to be a perfect match.

He did not hesitate in offering to go under the knife for his daughter and has lost one-and-a-half stone getting fit enough to face the operation, probably in around six months' time.

"It's not a hard decision to make at all," he said. "It's not a case of if', it's a case of how soon can you do it'."

If all goes well, Katie, from Kendal, will cease to be one of the regulars at the renal unit but, whatever happens, she wants to "give something back" to staff and fellow patients.

"The nurses are wonderful, they've done so much for me. They have been great, especially if I got upset or fed up with it all. They go out of their way to make sure you're happy it's like having a load of extra mothers," she said.

Katie wants to replace the ageing TV and video sets, which help patients relieve the tedium of long sessions hooked up to a dialysis machine, by organising a sponsored dog walk on July 25 and a special raffle at Hers & Sirs hair salon in Kendal.

Several local firms have already agreed to help and Katie is aiming to raise enough money to replace all 11 units. Anyone who wants to sponsor Katie can make a donation to the Katie Irving dialysis account at the Yorkshire Bank in Kendal or call 01539-724892.