From BedfordPatch.com, Hudson River Valley, NY, by Tom Auchterlonie
The annual Hudson Valley Walk for PKD was held on Saturday morning in Bedford Hills, an occasion to raise awareness of polycystic kidney disease.
Turnout was at least 100, according to Darien DaCosta, an event coordinator and Suffern resident.
DaCosta described PKD as an illness that affects a lot of people but that not a lot of people know about. He was unaware of PKD until his wife, Josie, got it in 2008. The following year she got a kidney transplant.
PKD is a common genetic disease and affects both children and adults, according to the group's website. However, it notes that there is no cure available.
The Bedford Hills walk began in 2004 and was supported by Heidi Camberari, who grew up in Bedford Hills and now lives in Somers. Saturday's walk was a unique Camberari family occasion. Her father, Wayne Grossman, met a cousin named Renee Fishback that he did not know, according to her mother, Sandy Grossman. [Read more]
From the BaltimoreSun.com, Baltimore, Maryland
From YorkPress, York, United Kingdom
A MAN who was given a new lease of life through a kidney transplant is holding a fundraising event in York tonight.
Shaun Johnson, 46, of Darcy Road, Selby, suffered from polycystic kidney disease, and underwent a kidney transplant in 2011, following a year of dialysis.
Tonight he will host the fundraising event at Huntington Working Men’s Club, to raise money for the York Teaching Hospital Charity, to help fund the self-care dialysis unit being set up at Selby’s New War Memorial Hospital.
Mr Johnson said: “Two years ago I was fortunate enough to receive a kidney transplant. However, prior to the transplant I had to have a year of dialysis, and so I know how vital this service is.
“We wanted to think of a way to give back, and to thank the teams at both York and Selby hospital for the support and service they have provided both myself and my family throughout my treatment and ongoing care.
“It would be nice to raise £1,000, but that depends on how generous people are on the night.”
The evening will include live entertainment from The Chicago Blues Brothers Tribute Band, and performances from local acts Jess Simpson and Joe Wilson, with a fundraising raffle. [Read more]
Gift of Life
From Omaha.com, World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, by Bob Glissman
The 9-year-old girl slept as a machine pumped her blood out of her body, filtered it and pumped it back in.
I was at the Nebraska Medical Center interviewing her mom, who was saying how brave and tough her daughter was. The girl didn't have the option of skipping her kidney dialysis treatment. The treatments kept her alive as she waited for a donor kidney.
After I wrote the story in April 2012, I got tested to see if I could donate one of my kidneys to her. I was a longtime blood donor, and I saw a kidney donation as just a more complicated, painful extension of a blood donation — a donation with an abdominal scar and a recovery period. [Read more]
FOR KIDNEY DONORS
Risks: Possible long-term risks of kidney donation may include high blood pressure; reduced kidney function; hernia; organ impairment or failure that may lead to the need for dialysis or transplantation; or even death. Negative psychological symptoms are possible during the healing process and years after the donation.
The recipient's insurance may or may not cover follow-up services for the donor if medical problems occur as a result of the donation. A donor's insurance also may not cover those expenses.
-- Source: United Network of Organ Sharing
To become a donor: For more information about becoming a donor, go to
www.organdonor.gov or call the Nebraska Medical Center's transplant office at 800-
401-4444
Husband donates kidney to wife
Four years ago Cecilia Robles was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.
Traveling three times a week to Las Lunas for dialysis got expensive and was exhausting.
In March, she started dialysis at home, a different system but an effective one. Instead of replacing the blood and cleaning it in a short exhausting space of time, the process was able to happen overnight and more often.
The Robles family already knew the disease as Cecilia’s mother and sister both had gone through the same disease until they died of it.
“My husband didn’t want to see me go through these same things,” she said.
Pedro said as soon as the diagnosis came down, he was thinking about giving his wife a kidney.
“Since the day they diagnosed her, I was thinking about transplant,” he said. “It’s better than being hooked up for life.” [Read more]
From HemelToday, United Kingdom
Four years ago Cecilia Robles was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.
Traveling three times a week to Las Lunas for dialysis got expensive and was exhausting.
In March, she started dialysis at home, a different system but an effective one. Instead of replacing the blood and cleaning it in a short exhausting space of time, the process was able to happen overnight and more often.
The Robles family already knew the disease as Cecilia’s mother and sister both had gone through the same disease until they died of it.
“My husband didn’t want to see me go through these same things,” she said.
Pedro said as soon as the diagnosis came down, he was thinking about giving his wife a kidney.
“Since the day they diagnosed her, I was thinking about transplant,” he said. “It’s better than being hooked up for life.” [Read more]
From HemelToday, United Kingdom
A twin who gave up the chance of a kidney transplant so that his more seriously ill brother could have the surgery is now in desperate need of the life-changing operation.
He said: “I get there for about 6pm and I probably go home between 10pm and 10.30pm. Without the machine I wouldn’t be here today.”
The disease was discovered almost by accident in the Hemel Hempstead brothers after Lawrence, of Adeyfield, injured himself and was sent for a scan by doctors around 10 years ago.
It set alarm bells ringing and tests on Andy, of Apsley Lock, also revealed he was a sufferer – his two sons, aged 17 and 19, have the condition, too, and they may also need kidney transplants in the future.
Andy said: “It tires you out. It drains you.
“I still do things but I’m not as healthy as I was five years ago.”
Lawrence had a transplant in March 2011 – he was already undergoing regular dialysis while, at that time, Andy did not require the invasive medical treatment.
He said: “I got the phone call for the kidney transplant and I went down there but they didn’t realise there were two of us. I was gutted but it was just one of those things.
“He was dialysing at the time and I wasn’t, so it was better for him to get it.
“I had the choice to have it or to give it to my brother. [Read more]
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