Doctor with one kidney to face 15 half Ironmans

A doctor who donated a kidney to her mother less than a year ago is taking on a gruelling 15-day challenge running, cycling and swimming in every national park.

In October 2024, Royal Derby Hospital A&E doctor Meg Pragnell went under the knife to have a kidney removed for transplant.

Mother and daughter have both made a full recovery, with Dr Pragnell well enough to attempt a record 15 back-to-back half-Ironman challenges in the UK's 15 national parks from 30 July.

The 28-year-old said: "We won't be a year post-op by the time that we do the challenge but I think it's a pretty incredible way to celebrate recoveries and what our bodies can do."

Dr Pragnell, who lives in Derbyshire, said the family first noticed 60-year-old Aly Pragnell's illness during a family holiday in 2023.

She said: "Mum was bruising really easily, getting really tired which is really quite unlike her and just saying that she felt generally a bit naff. "

A blood test showed Mrs Pragnell, of Overton in Hampshire, had end stage renal disease and "effectively no kidney function"

She was "scrambled" to hospital where she started dialysis, and after a match was confirmed surgery was lined up for them both.

Dr Pragnell said: "The work up was pretty intense certainly for mum and definitely for me. I think I had probably about 15 different doctor's appointments to make sure that everything worked out, and then in October we did the great swap.

"Three, four weeks post-op I could barely do anything, walking on the treadmill for five minutes at a time and taking a rest - and now I'm looking at running 15 consecutive half marathons in 15 days."

The 15 In 15 challenge will see Dr Pragnell complete a half marathon, a 2km swim and a 90km cycle through a different national park for 15 consecutive days.

Her journey will take her from Scotland to Devon and back to finish in the Peak District..

Dr Pragnell is no stranger to a challenge - in 2022 she took on a "bonkers" 10-day triathlon challenge which saw her climb the Three Peaks, swam England, Wales and Scotland's largest lakes, and cycled between the locations to raise money for Alzheimer's UK and St Michael's Hospice after they supported her grandparents.

But during the challenge, Dr Pragnell learned her friend Emma Hodges had been diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer

She said: "One of my best friends was diagnosed with sarcoma, which is especially rare in people her age.

"She went through the most brutal sets of treatment but thankfully a year after her diagnosis she was able to ring the bell to kind of mark the end of her treatment.

"Today she's still in remission which is just absolutely remarkable. She faced it with determination and true grit that was just inspiring."

Dr Pragnell said she "can't pinpoint" when the 15 In 15 challenge was suggested but said "we've told too many people so we've got to run with it".

She said: "I've never done anything like that before in my entire life, it's an enormous challenge and I'm not an athlete, I work full-time as a doctor.

"But I haven't really considered the possibility that it won't happen, and it will be worth it if we can raise the money for Sarcoma UK."

Sarcoma UK's director of fundraising Kerry Reeves-Kneip said the charity was "astounded" at Meg's challenge, "especially having donated a kidney just last year".

She said: "The money she raises will go towards our much-needed research programmes, which are crucial for developing better diagnostic tools and ensuring sarcoma cancers like Emma's are caught earlier and more accurately."

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