A man from Middleton lost six stone in a year after being diagnosed with kidney disease.
Dad Shaun O'Connor was just eight when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and in the years that followed ate a lot of sugary foods to balance his insulin levels.
But, when he was knocked off his motorbike three years ago, doctors were shocked at his high blood pressure.
They performed tests and found out that he was also suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Over time his kidney function fell until specialists told the 34-year-old he would be forced to have a transplant.
Shaun and his wife, Georgina, decided that if he was going to go under the knife he also would put himself on the list for a pancreas transplant to effectively cure his diabetes.
However, to be accepted onto the list, Shaun needed a maximum BMI 28 because of the health risks involved and his was 35.
At the time, in April 2020, he was 18 stone and decided he needed to make a change.
"I don't know what happened in my mind but something must have just clicked," he explained.
"I just started a diet and I've not looked back and now I'm bang on 12 stone.
"At the time exercise wasn't really an option, it was just healthy eating at first so I cut carbohydrates from my diet, I reduced them quite dramatically.
"I'd have three meals a day starting with eggs and a meat and salad for lunch and then a meat and veg for tea. I'd snack on berries or pecans. I did that for a month and that was dead hard."
After that Shaun began to add a small number of carbohydrates into his diet but has continued to limit his intake.
"I started walking, we've got two kids, my son is four and my daughter is two but she was one at the time so I started walking her to the childminders," he added.
"I got a backpack that you hold a baby in on your back and I started doing that every day. It was killing me but I started to use the free time I had to walk the block, maybe about eight kilometres.
"I would do that at speed and keep doing it.
"When I realised it was working and I was getting fitter I said, 'When I get to 15 or so I'll start running'.
"I got to 15 stone four and I went for a run - it nearly killed me!
"But, I kept doing it every day, just trying and trying, and now I can do 5km a day without stopping and I do 10km at the weekend."
After a year of trying, Shaun is now 12 stone.
"I feel better, it feels weird that I'm on the transplant list now," he said.
"12 months ago I could understand why I was, but now it doesn't feel right. I know I just need to get as fit as I can for the transplant."
Shaun recently set himself the challenge of walking 46 miles from Middleton to Blackpool and was joined by his brother Joe Anderson, and sister-in-law Abbey Jones.
Together, the trio have raised £1,686.85 so far for charity Kidney Care UK.
To find out more about Shaun’s challenge, including how to sponsor him go to www.justgiving.com/Shaun-O-Connor4.
