A mum-of-three had to give up her dream job at Birmingham's Primark in order to battle an ultra rare blood disease which means that drinking around three glass of water a day could kill her.
Becky Roberts, from Kingstanding, is running out of time to find a life-saving kidney donor on the NHS with the pandemic causing a further backlog.
The 43-year-old, has Anti-GBM (Goodpasture's) Disease - an extremely rare blood disease, which makes the immune system mistakenly attack her vital organs.
Her kidneys are currently surviving on one percent, she has lost her hair from chemotherapy and six-stone in weight from the illness. While if she drinks more than a litre of water in a day it will flood her lungs.
Becky has vowed to keep fighting for the sake of her kids - but needs to be matched with a donor of Caribbean heritage and have the op within two years.
Her final hope is to raise over £86,000 via a GoFundMe page set up by daughter Aliyah, 22, by having the op using a private healthcare company.
"It's an ultra rare blood disease and found once every 10 years. The chances of it are one in millions," Becky told BirminghamLive.
"I was told I had five years to live and that was three years ago, so I have two years left.
"I loved my Primark job, it was great, a dream, and I was there for over 10 years. I was a cashier. I had to give it up due to my health problems.
"It's been a heartbreaking and unimaginable time. I can't even explain it. It's like someone else's life. It's one thing after another. It's crazy.
"I have to keep strong and focused for my kids. I want to live for them, but it's heart-wrenching. They need me. My babies are my life, my world, my everything.
"I was in hospital for four months at the beginning and to see them without me was horrible. They couldn't come to see me on the renal ward because of possible infections spreading.
"I got so ill the doctors had to put me into an induced coma. My body got so weak it kept crashing. My immune system is attacking my vital organs."
Becky, who has younger children, Amiyah, seven and Andrew, nine, was a cashier at the old New Street Primark branch in Birmingham.
In 2018 she was initially thought her condition could be food poisoning. But by January 2019 her condition became critical and ended up spending four months in Heartlands Hospital.
"I went back to hospital. My kidneys were working at three percent," she said.
"Doctors said if I had waited until the next day I would have been dead. I wouldn't be here. It's started going to my lungs and then had a biopsy on my kidney.
"I had chemotherapy and lost six stone since I was sick.
"I lost my hair. My daughter wouldn't come near me as I was bald. I couldn't walk, eat and clean, couldn't look after myself. It's just been a whirlwind."
She cannot drink more than 700ml and allows a further 300ml in food per day - but any more she would have to be rushed to hospital.
"I don't like living like this," she said. I'm only allowed to drink 700ml a day. If I drink more the water would go around my body, around my heart and I'd end up in hospital.
"That's what happened before when I went into a coma. They put me in an induced coma. I had too much water on me when your lungs fill up and I didn't realise."
For the last six-months Becky's had hemodialysis three-time-a-week, four-hour per day, at the Castle Vale Dialysis Unit, in Sutton Coldfield.
Becky has to find a kidney donor, but she said the process "takes years" on the NHS. The pandemic has also created a further backlog, she said.
The mum has five loved ones who have offered her their kidney, including her eldest daughter and her brother, who could be a 90 per cent match.
"Even if live donors do come up - say tomorrow - there's a big backlog for people that have to wait because of Covid," she said.
"It could be months before donors are seen and six months of testing means a long wait.
"I don't really know where I stand with the NHS. It could take up to seven years.
"As I'm Caribbean I wouldn't be able to have a kidney from someone who say is European white. It's different tissue types, not just blood types. It's more difficult to find a match.
"The only thing I can think of is to go private."
The private op would be at a healthcare company in London, but £66,000 is needed to be raised for the operation and an additional £20,000 for testing and general medical care.
Becky's daughter Aliyah has now organised a crowdfunding appeal with £5,000 raised in a matter of days.
"Becky is such a kind bubbly soul, anybody who knows her will tell you as such, the crazy loud party animal," her daughter said.
"An amazing mother to three children including my seven and nine year old siblings. An amazing sister, daughter, auntie, just all around amazing.
"I just hope and pray that she will get through this, and with your help we can finally bring my mom back from hell on earth."
The fund appeal says: "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are refused the chance to be matched to my mom, unless we go privately as live donors are not being operated on due to the risk and the heavy weight on the NHS," she said.
"The approximate waiting time for a donor she is currently on is 7 years... which as you can gather.. isn’t enough time.
"With her kidneys now on one percent, she has to have nine plasma exchanges every day to remove any toxins that are present in her body.
Her immune system is incredibly weak and she endures dialysis every second day.
"From being diagnosed in 2019 her four month hospital stay was hard for not only her, but her entire family, leaving two young children at home with her mother and receiving help from anybody in the family.
"She has endured more than anybody should, experiencing chemotherapy treatment to help with the disease, losing her hair and enduring countless operations over the past two years.
"Each time she gets better, she gets worse, having being put into an induced coma when her lungs filled with liquid as she was too weak to fight the disease."
Becky added: "£5,000 has been raised in a few days. I feel very loved and overwhelmed.
"I have helped a lot of people in the past and have a kind heart and it's amazing to receive that love back."
If you would like to donate to Becky's GoFundMe appeal, please click here.
