My CUH Story - Conor Clay

Conor, please tell us about what led to you working at CUH…

In December 2018 I got sick unexpectedly and found out I had complete renal failure. The only symptom I had at the time was a bad headache. I was being a ‘typical male’ putting off going to the doctor thinking my headaches were probably stress related. Then one day I did make the trip to the GP and my blood pressure was really high - I was told to go to A&E, here at CUH, straight away. I thought nothing of it and suspected I would get a simple diagnosis to get me back home. But what started out as an hour out of the house ended up with me being in hospital after being told I had complete renal failure. I had to have tubes put into my body and dialysis and my whole life just went upside down.

I was on dialysis for 6 months and really struggled with it but luckily I received a call from the hospital that there was a kidney available for me. So I came in and had a kidney transplant here at Addenbrooke’s on 15 June 2019. After that point I just wanted to help out because of how good they had been to me. As soon as I was recovered and able and had the all clear from the doctor I came to work here in January 2020. I just fell in love with the place and left my job with no second thoughts. My partner at the time was worried because it meant I would take a pay cut but I didn’t care at all because I just wanted to be here. I just wanted to give something back in the best way I could.

My illness came completely out of the blue and flipped my life upside down. I went from having a normal life of a 27 year old to having treatment 3 times a week. I was always fit and generally healthy, into sports and ate well and you think something like that would never happen to you and just like that it does.

How has living with a renal disease impacted on your life?

Renal diseases works in stages just like a cancer and it was not new to me as my grandmother had a kidney transplant when I was young and my mum has also been diagnosed with it too now. Luckily she doesn’t need dialysis and a transplant but she is a regular patient here at CUH like me too. My grandmother’s transplant wasn’t successful and I know I am very lucky to be here.

I am always happy to be here and around patients. I know what it is like to be here as a patient and at some point I told myself that this was it for me and I had to come to terms with that. This was me under the age of 30 while all my mates were getting married and having children, I was thinking I might not get to see my 30th birthday.

It’s given me so much perspective because I get up every day happy and when my alarm goes off there isn’t that dread of saying “I have to go to work now” in fact I think to myself “I get to get up to go to work”.

I have a long lifelong commitment to CUH, I have had other job offers with bigger pay packages and it made me realise that some things are more important than money. And I love working here and the work that I do. I love how busy it is here and how different each day can be, it’s extremely rewarding.

What do you find to be the most rewarding part of your role?

Helping people. Coming in everyday to keep people safe is very rewarding.

I just enjoy that this role has such a big overview of the hospital because I am able to meet people from different walks of life, which is one of the best parts. You don’t know what you’re walking into some times but at the end of the day. If you’ve done your job right, you know that people are always safe.

Have you always done this line of work? And what advice would you give to someone wanting to do the same?

Yes, I have always worked in security. I feel as though it all stems from being an older brother of three, we didn’t have much of a father figure and I always wanted to keep my siblings safe.

I found my work to be extremely eye opening as I have an entire overview of the hospital where most staff are bound to their wards or departments. My advice would be to, be open minded.

What does your working pattern look like?

We are department of 40 staff who are split into 4 teams. We work a 4-on-4-off shift pattern covering days and nights 7am – 7pm.

Each team covers the entire hospital and we work in the same team for every shift. My team consists of myself, another supervisor and 7 officers. We are always on shift together.

We are called in when staff can’t necessarily deal with a situation or when things aren’t going right, so working in a strong team everyday helps through those times. We don’t always like dealing with the things we have to deal with but it is very rewarding.

What does life look like for you following your transplant?

I am on tablets every day for the rest of my life. I used to have appointments once every 2 weeks but luckily they are now just once every 3 months. My appointments are at the clinic here at CUH so I am fortunate to be able to schedule them around my work.

My biggest challenge now is that I am immunosuppressed. Before I never had to think much about getting ill or worry about catching a cold, but now if I catch a cold, I really catch a cold. This is hard for me as it meant I was high risk at the start of the pandemic and had to shield for 7 months but all I wanted to do was get stuck into my role.

Going through what I went through led me to getting this job and was an eye opening experience about what I wanted to do with my life. If I can help just a few people here and there raise awareness then it will all be totally worth it.