But the treatment – known as bladder neuromodulation – has enabled her to have a “whole new freedom”.<\/p>\n
It is the first time the procedure has been offered to children and teenagers, having been available to adults with bladder conditions for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
“I’m a very outdoorsy person and will be studying ecology at university in September, and hope to get a job in that field,” Jenny said.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
“If I’m lucky I could end up trekking through a rainforest or counting penguins in the Antarctic.<\/p>\n
“This operation has meant that I won’t need to self-catheterise six times a day. Doing so is quite difficult even on a day hike in the Kent Downs where there aren’t toilet facilities every few hours, let alone in the middle of a rainforest or up a mountain.<\/p>\n
“The operation has allowed me to have a whole new freedom and be able to do what I want in my life.”<\/p>\n
During the operation, an electrical stimulator device – similar to a pacemaker, is surgically implanted into a patient’s lower back.<\/p>\n
The device sends electrical impulses to prevent incorrect or unwanted nerve messages going to the bladder.<\/p>\n
This includes messages that cause urinary incontinence or a person not being able to empty their bladder without a catheter.<\/p>\n
Jenny, who has a condition similar to Fowler’s syndrome – a rare condition that typically causes urinary retention in young women – had the procedure at Evelina London Children’s Hospital.<\/p>\n
The clinic will offer the procedure to other young people with rare bladder conditions who have not responded to standard treatment.<\/p>\n
On being the first teenager to have the operation in the UK, Jenny added: “It’s quite cool\u2026 I’m loving my new-found freedom of not being reliant on carrying catheters with me all day.”<\/p>\n
Arash Taghizadeh, consultant paediatric urologist and lead for the bladder neuromodulation service at Evelina London, said: “It’s great that we’re able to offer [bladder neuromodulation] to children and young people to improve their symptoms, giving them greater independence over their daily lives.”<\/p>\n
Barbara Kasumu, executive director of Evelina London Children’s Charity, added that the organisation is “proud” to have funded the service.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n
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