From Daily Mail, United Kingdom, By ANNABEL FENWICK ELLIOTT
Kriste Lewis joins 35 other women on the New Orleans Saintsations team, some as young as 19, and most in their early to mid-20s.
She is the oldest cheerleader in her team's history, and the second oldest ever to make an NFL squad
A 40-year-old mother-of two-has scored herself the prized position of an NFL cheerleader, beating out competitors half her age to join the New Orleans Saintsations.
Kriste Lewis, from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease 14 years ago, and as she approached her 40th birthday in April, she decided it was now or never if she wished to tick this lifelong dream off her bucket list.
'Today is the day, not tomorrow,' she told the Hattiesburg American. 'Wear your best shoes. Don’t save that bottle of wine... I know that I will be on dialysis and in need of a transplant, but I could be killed in a car wreck tomorrow.'
The feisty dancer, who appeared on ABC's Good Morning America this morning with her husband Tim, and sons Jake 14, and Rob, 11, trained hard for six months ahead of the try-outs; an experience she would have been happy to settle with as a birthday present to herself on its own.
Mrs Lewis did not disclose her age during the first round of nerve-wracking auditions in April, and she held on to her husband's motto 'focus and fun' to keep her eye on the prize.
She impressed the judges strictly based on her dancing abilities alone, and two rounds later, it was unanimously decided that she should make the team.
'I had honestly forgotten how much I loved to dance,' Mrs Lewis, who works part-time as a fitness instructor, admits. 'I told my husband, "Please remind me after this audition to not stop dancing."'
'It's just amazing to watch her,' Mr Lewis told ABC. [Read more]
Gift of Life
From Fox31, Denver, Colorado, BY SHAUL TURNER
Kidney donation network helps patients move up transplant list
From Fox31, Denver, Colorado, BY SHAUL TURNER
Kidney donation network helps patients move up transplant list
GREELEY, Colo. – Polycystic kidney disease was causing the pain that Bertina Marie Hofmeister lived with each day.
“I started getting really bad back pain,” she said. “I didn`t know what was going on.”
Bertina needed a kidney transplant and was willing to wait for it rather than ask one of her kids.
“I’m not sure how other mothers feel about it, but it`s your child and you don`t want to see your child go through any kind of unnecessary surgery,” she said.
Her youngest child, Amanda, didn’t agree with that. She tried to donate her kidney without telling her mother, but learned that she wasn’t a positive match. All hope was not lost, though: Doctors at the University Of Colorado Hospital told Amanda and her mother about another option called pair donation.
Through a computer system, mismatched donors and recipients are grouped with others across the country. If there is an incompatible pair in Texas, Los Angeles, Boston or other cities, the system can find compatibility elsewhere.
“The pair donation network is an amazing way for pairs of people who want to actually contribute or donate a kidney to their loved ones but are unable to,” Dr. Alex Wiseman of CU Hospital explained.
Amanda’s donation to a different recipient helped move Bertina’s chance of getting a donor to the top of the list.
“It didn`t matter that my kidney went to a stranger as long as my mom got hers,” Amanda said.
Amanda’s kidney was shipped to Seattle, and Bertina received hers from Georgia. A selfless act that saved not only one life, but two.
It has been a year now since their surgery and both mom and daughter are doing great. Amanda is finishing her police academy training in Greeley and Bertina is expecting her third grandchild any day.
For more information about the national kidney registry pairing program, visit http://www.kidneyregistry.org/compatible_pairs.php?cookie=1
From MLive.com, by Justin P. Hicks
Saving a stranger: Kidney donor discovers 'tremendous need,' helps man he just met
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – John Teeples still can't explain the decision he made last fall shortly after meeting Arthur Bott, a 79-year-old Byron Center man struggling with kidney failure.
“He needed it and I had two,” Teeples, a 57-year-old attorney who practices in Georgetown Township, said of the choice to give Bott a kidney “I’ve never been able to explain why I said 'yes' to a man I basically just met. It was just, I was in a position to help a man and I did.”
Bott knew his health was declining after 20 years of battling polycystic kidney disease. He was preparing for the worst before Teeples offered him a lifeline after they connected through a mutual friend.
Seven months later, the chief executive of Grand Rapids Plastics is back to work and Teeples is no worse for the wear.
“I’m doing fine. I have my health. I have a new kidney,” Bott said. “It’s the darndest thing, but the stranger that knew me (a few) weeks said ‘I just have to save your life.’ Who does these things?”
Related: Grand Rapids Plastics owner who 'flunked retirement' earns lifetime achievement award
Teeples said he heard people talk about donating their organs postmortem, but didn't realize there was such a “tremendous need” for living kidney donors. He hadn’t researched the option much until meeting Bott.
Most kidney donors know their recipient, but living donor coordinator Simie Bredeweg said Mercy Health Saint Mary’s Kidney Transplant Program sees a handful of anonymous donations a year.
Random donors like Teeples help alleviate both Michigan's 2,653-patient wait list that can keep a person hoping for a transplant for five years. The national list is more than 101,000 patients, according to Gift of Life Michigan and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The wait list has not gotten shorter (in recent years) and there are definitely not more organs available than there used to be,” Bredeweg said. “There are more people with kidney failure and the resources have not increased to meet the demand.” [Read more]
INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana woman is giving a part of herself to her fiancé to improve his quality of life as their wedding nears.
Jeff Graham and Donell Heberer Walton already have a bond that will connect them for a lifetime.
With Jeff's kidneys shutting down because of polycystic kidney disease, Donell made the decision to give him another chance at life after doctors at St. Vincent Hospital determined she was a match for a successful kidney donation.
"She's actually giving me something to prolong my life, so I'm just very thankful and blessed," Graham said.
"I am one of those people who believes all things happen for a reason," Walton said. "You are where you are meant to be at that moment."
Without a transplant, Graham would have needed dialysis.
"That's selfless. That's noble," said Dr. Alvin Wee." The act that they do is just heroic, if you ask me."
After months of doctor visits and testing the transplant team at St. Vincent removed a healthy kidney from Walton using what they described as a relatively simple laparoscopic procedure.
The delicate surgery was completed just steps away in another operating room when the kidney was placed in Graham. The procedure will allow him to carry on a normal life.
"God works through us to help others, and God works through these donors to change the lives of these recipients," said Dr. Islam Ghoneim.
Walton's gift to Graham gives him new perspective.
"I appreciate life a lot more. You appreciate that and what she has given up to help me and prolong my life," he said. "I will be forever grateful for what she's done."
Since the transplant, Graham can now go on long-distance trips. The couple recently traveled to Hawaii and has bigger plans.
"I guess we'll start saving our pennies maybe for Europe now," he said.
Graham and Walton are telling their story to help raise awareness to the importance of living donors. [Read more]
HOUSTON (KTRK) --Ten people over 10 days all received or donated a new kidney to a loved one at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
On the day of their first check-ups, ABC-13 spoke with seven of them.
Patricia Bolar and Debra Garrett-Graves aren't just sisters. Bolar raised her 10 siblings when she was just 18 years old.
Their mother died from polycystic kidney disease, and Bolar was born with it. She was on dialysis for two years before receiving her sister's kidney.
"She was like when you're ready for your kidney. I got it. And, I was like okay," Bolar said. "I love her for doing this for me. I couldn't have asked for a better gift."
Garrett didn't hesitate to step in and help her sister who had given so much to her.
"It makes me feel even better to give back because she sacrificed a lot for me, so why can't I sacrifice for her?" Garrett-Graves said. [Read more]
Brother and sister with kidney disease demonstrate why East Tennessee Kidney Foundation is important
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A brother and sister who know all too well what it's like to have kidney failure are a shining example of why we chose the East Tennessee Kidney Foundation for our 6 On Your Side Day of Service project for July.
"Sometimes it's sort of like a frog. You put it in warm water, and as the water temperatures goes up, the frog doesn't really know what's going on," said Link McGinnis. He is talking about kidney failure caused by polycystic kidney disease.
He and his sister Vicki Geist inherited inherited the disease, in which cysts grow on the kidneys, causing them to slowly shut down over time.
"I took procreate shots that they use for chemo patients to help them get through the day," said Geist.
"Our failure was slow and it took a lot of time. If you saw us from one year to the next, you could see quite a bit of difference," McGinnis said.
All that changed for this brother and sister almost one decade ago when they found out they were going into kidney failure.
"We both started looking for living donors and put the word out, and had a lot of people offer to donate kidneys to us and get tested," said Geist.
It wasn't long before two living donors were found to be a match.
"It's just incredible for someone to see a need and say, 'I can do that,'" said McGinnis.
6 News was at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville in 2005 when McGinnis went through his surgery.
"Probably I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for organ donation," he said.
Polycystic kidney disease is an unwanted legacy in the family, first starting with their grandmother who died from it and then passed to their mother.
Their mother Lois had a kidney transplant 20 years ago. Now mother, daughter and son are living full and healthy lives.
"Of course modern science has come a long way, and once you get a new kidney, you really are just as good as anyone else," said Geist.
"My life has completely changed because of my donor," McGinnis said.
This family is not alone. The numbers are staggering. According to Donate Life Tennessee, almost 100,000 people in the United States are living with kidney failure, and of those, only about 17,000 received a transplant last year.
That number in Tennessee is 23,000, with less than 500 transplants last year.
More online: 6 On Your Side Day of Service to benefit East Tennessee Kidney Foundation with blanket drive. [Read more]
PKD Fundraising
From The Daily Observer, Canada, by Sarah Hyatt
Right now, two million Canadians are living with kidney disease or are at risk.
Every day, 14 Canadians learn that their kidneys are failing.
And the devastation of a diagnosis can strike anyone, at any time.
About nine years ago, a father of three here, a husband, a friend to many, Don Sutherland was one in 14, and he and his loved ones experienced the devastation of such a diagnosis.
Don was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease. It’s a genetic disorder that causes multiple cysts to form in the kidneys. High blood pressure, urine and kidney infections, kidney stones and kidney failure often and eventually follow the diagnosis. For the Sutherland family there was and remains no cure.
After the diagnosis, Don and his family learned his kidneys would fail within two to five years. And they did.
Dialysis and/or a transplant are the only hope for someone with a diagnosis like Don’s, Cathy, Don’s wife explained. But neither will cure the disease – both simply prolong one’s life, she continued. And either aren’t without their own set of hardships.
Don went for dialysis three times a week with Cathy in Renfrew after he was first diagnosed. Each dialysis treatment took hours.
Cathy remembers cooking a lot of suppers in advance during that time for those three nights a week at the hospital, she said. Their family dog often accompanied them too for the trips to Renfrew. “We just spent so much time there,” she said. Everything changed for the family.
While Don was going through dialysis treatments, both Cathy and his sister went through months of testing to see if either were a match to donate a kidney to Don. And on Oct. 30, 2008, Don got a new kidney from Cathy.
But there’s still no way of telling how long the transplanted kidney will work for, Cathy said. For each person it’s different, she explained. Sometimes a transplant can work for a day, sometimes 25 years, but it won’t last for the rest of Don’s life, Cathy said. There’s also a lot of medication involved to prevent rejection in the case of a transplant, Cathy added.
However, Don continues to do well to date. “He’s a lot healthier,” Cathy said. “He feels a lot better.”
For Don’s daughter Heather, she’s happy her dad is able experience great quality of life with his transplant.
The battle isn’t really over though for the Sutherland family and others just like them, sharing the same devastation of a diagnosis. And with that, for the past few years the Sutherland family has rallied people together to fight back.
On the weekend, they hosted their second annual slo-pitch tournament to support people affected by kidney disease. [Read more]
PKD Help
From TheSpec.com, Hamilton, Canada
No comments:
Post a Comment