"Without the NHS I wouldn't be here now"

In October 2010 I was admitted to Royal Alexandra Hospital Paisley, Ward 24 with extreme stomach pain.

It turns out I had acute necrotising pancreatitis caused by gallstones which is very unusual as I was only 15 years old at the time. I was moved to High Dependency then onto the Intensive Care Unit as my condition worsened.

The team in ICU were fantastic and the care I received was probably the best. I was in ICU for around 2 weeks mostly sedated, I was intubated also. During my second week there my condition worsened and I had to be put to sleep and moved to the Glasgow royal infirmary's pancreatic unit for specialist care.

The only complaint I have is how this was handled, granted it would have been hard to explain to me why the rush of the emergency was happening, I heard the words trauma and emergency and thought I was going to die, only now do I realise I actually was - for a young person of 15 this was terrifying.

My care in surgical HDU at the Royal was also fantastic and after 5 weeks there I was sent back to the RAH ward 26 where I stayed for another 3 weeks. Overall on my return the care I received was fantastic.

Throughout my whole ordeal, my consultant at the RAH Anton Buter was very helpful. I am forever thankful for what he and his team have done for me, Nothing ever proved difficult for him and he would spend time talking me through everything.

After leaving hospital I was not offered counselling which was disappointing, as I was affected very badly by flash backs and not fully knowing what happened to me in ICU. However now I have finally come to terms with it and have realised how lucky I am to still be here.

A lot of people complain about the NHS, and yes at times we don't get what we want from it, however if it wasn't for the NHS I wouldn't be here today.