From Burton Mail, United Kingdom
Loving daughter gives kidney to save mum from dialysis
A MUM has received the gift of life in the form of a vital organ from her daughter. Janet Matthews has suffered from polycystic kidney disease for several years.
The condition has worsened over time and doctors warned the 52-year-old that, without a donor, she would be on dialysis by the end of the year.
The JCB employee's husband, Stephen, and son, Andrew, were unable to donate as they are both diabetic. However, her daughter, 31-year-old Jenny Lowe, was found to be a match for kidney transplant surgery.
After a long discussion with her family, Mrs Lowe decided to donate.
Her generosity came despite the fact her own daughter, four-year-old Maisie, was born with just one kidney.
The pair underwent surgery in the summer and now Mrs Matthews is recovering so well she is planning to return to work as a group buyer at JCB Attachments, in Uttoxeter, this Autumn.
She said: "I was adamant that Jenny did not put herself forward as a donor. As far as I was concerned I was on the transplant list but realistically I was resigned to dialysis.
"I only found out Jenny was being tested to be a live donor when she got a call from the doctor while I was with her.
"When I found out what Jenny had done I felt anxious, because, whatever operation you undergo there is a chance of death and this could have robbed my granddaughter of her mum.
"I look back now and it makes me very emotional. Jenny is very special and what she did is absolutely fantastic."
Ms Lowe, a bank manager from Burslem, said: "This is something I had to do for my mum. The thought of her heading for dialysis and the ordeal she would have to go through spurred me on.
"When it came to the surgery I wasn't scared – just determined we were going to put things right. I've returned to work and am building my strength back up. It is amazing to see mum with lots more energy and able to do simple things that would've been too much a few months ago." [Read more}
From The Bristol Post, United Kingdom, By EmmaGrimshaw
A dad who suffers from a life-threatening condition which causes the kidneys to grow to the size of rugby ball and become 100 times heavier is calling on residents to sign up to the organ donor register.
Ian Fereday, from Patchway, has witnessed first-hand the devastating impact PKD - Polycystic Kidney Disease - can have on lives.
His dad and two brothers also suffer from the incurable illness. But the most painful news for Ian was his two children being diagnosed with the degenerative condition, which affects 12.5 million patients around the globe.
The 56-year-old says he is lucky because despite being diagnosed with disease in the 1970s, he never felt unwell from it and was able to lead a normal life working for the military.
But then in January the father-of-two started vomiting and suffering from tiredness.
Doctors discovered only ten per cent of his kidney was functioning and he had to leave his job and start the deliberating treatment of dialysis. This meant visiting Southmead Hospital three times a walk to spend four hours strapped up to a machine. After the exhausting treatment, Ian could do nothing else but sleep for the rest of the day.
His dad and brother have already undergone transplants and now Ian's wife Ruth is having tests to uncover if she could donate her kidney to him.
He said: "What hit me the hardest was when my two grown up children, aged 30 and 31, found out that unfortunately their tests were positive. To think that they will have to suffer and go through all the things that we have is very hard to accept.
"I would love more people to join the donor register and help people with diseases like this."
Ian is also backing the Give PKD the Bump campaign which aims to raise awareness of condition and to generate funds for research and support services.
A spokeswoman for PKD International which is running the awareness campaign said: "PKD causes fluid filled sacs to develop throughout the kidneys, making them swell to up to four times their normal size,"
Find out more about the campaign, which is being launched on Friday, here.
PKD Fundraising
Centreville resident Brittany Parker, pictured on the far right in the back row, is sharing her story in hopes of raising awareness of, and funds for, the Kidney Foundation of Canada. Brittany, her father and her siblings are all living with polycystic kidney disease.
The 29-year-old Centreville resident was diagnosed with a hereditary form of polycystic kidney disease at 15 years old. The disease runs in her family, with her grandfather, siblings and, more recently, nine-year-old daughter all receiving the same diagnosis.
“It's heartbreaking and I feel awful and I feel guilty about it,” the mother of two confides. “However, with the right diet and staying on top of things you can live a fairly normal life.”
The topic of kidney disease only comes up on an as needed basis in Parker’s household. Before her daughter’s diagnosis, Parker said she would have had a hard time finding the motivation to go public with her personal story.
Not anymore.
“I really want to ensure that the next generation has the ability to cope with it in a far better way,” she said.
Parker is chairing the organizing committee planning the inauguralFarm-to-Table Dinner fundraiser in support of the Kidney Foundation of Canada’s Atlantic Branch. The event, featuring a three-course meal and live performance by award-winning Nova Scotian singer Ryan Cook, is slated for Oct. 27.
“Growing up with kidney disease is one thing and you learn to deal with it and you roll with the punches, but when we found out that (my daughter) had polycystic kidney disease… it kind of changes your whole outlook,” said Parker.
More than anything, Parker hopes her story will inspire others to pay attention to the warning signs coming from their bodies. For Parker, something like the common cold can completely rock her world if the symptoms are ignored.
“A couple of years ago I got a kidney infection and didn’t know it and it actually collapsed my kidney,” she recalled. “I got deathly ill and went into outpatients thinking it was a kidney stone and the next thing I know I’m being rushed into the (operating room).”
She remembers how upsetting it was for her young children to see her in a hospital bed, and
that memory serves as a reminder of why she’s decided to fight for a better future for everyone living with kidney disease.
For those learning to cope with the illness, Parker recommends learning more about the symptoms, trusting instincts, eating a kidney-healthy diet and advocating for prompt medical attention whenever something does not feel right.
“It's not worth it to try to hold on and see how it plays out,” she said. “The sooner that you get screened and tested the better chances you have moving forward.”
If you go
The Farm-to-Table Dinner evening at NSCC Kingstec Oct. 27 will begin at 5:30 p.m.. There will be tasting stations for local wine, beer, cider and spirits as well as dinner, live music by acclaimed Nova Scotian songwriter Ryan Cook and auctions. To learn more about the event or how to purchase tickets, visitwww.kidney.ca/farmtotabledinner
Walk for PKD
From Hamilton Community News, Ontario, Canada
Canada’s largest event dedicated to raising money for kidney research
One in 10 Canadians are battling kidney disease. Craig Kerr of Hamilton is one of them. His kidneys weigh 15 pounds each and are functioning at nine per cent.
Kerr lives with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), one of the most common life-threatening, genetic diseases that causes multiple cysts to form on the kidneys, resulting in massive enlargement of the kidneys and can impact the function of surrounding organs.
Those living with PKD have a 50 per cent chance of passing it along to their children. Kerr received it from his father, who was on dialysis for eight years before receiving a kidney transplant and passed away from cancer last year.
Three out of his four siblings are also living with PKD and his two children haven’t been tested yet.
On Sunday, the Kidney Foundation of Canada will be having its Hamilton Kidney Walk at Mountain Drive Park.
The Kidney Foundation’s annual walks are Canada’s largest event dedicated to raising money for kidney research and programs that help support those living with kidney disease.
Mountain Drive Park is located on Concession Street at Upper Gage Avenue. The Kidney Walk runs from 9 a.m. until noon. To register or for more information, contact Patrick Cook at 1-800-387-4474 ext.4969 or pcook@kidney.on.ca, or see kidney.ca.
Kerr lives with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), one of the most common life-threatening, genetic diseases that causes multiple cysts to form on the kidneys, resulting in massive enlargement of the kidneys and can impact the function of surrounding organs.
Those living with PKD have a 50 per cent chance of passing it along to their children. Kerr received it from his father, who was on dialysis for eight years before receiving a kidney transplant and passed away from cancer last year.
Three out of his four siblings are also living with PKD and his two children haven’t been tested yet.
On Sunday, the Kidney Foundation of Canada will be having its Hamilton Kidney Walk at Mountain Drive Park.
The Kidney Foundation’s annual walks are Canada’s largest event dedicated to raising money for kidney research and programs that help support those living with kidney disease.
Mountain Drive Park is located on Concession Street at Upper Gage Avenue. The Kidney Walk runs from 9 a.m. until noon. To register or for more information, contact Patrick Cook at 1-800-387-4474 ext.4969 or pcook@kidney.on.ca, or see kidney.ca.
The Bredeson family of Bluffton is organizing their third annual walk to raise money for the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance in honor of their 10-year-old daughter, Chloe Bredeson, who was diagnosed with TSC in 2010.
The LIDS Step Forward to Cure TSC is a national walkathon hosted in more than 30 cities across the country. Superhero Chloe, as she has been nicknamed for the way she marches into her doctors’ appointments wearing a pink and purple superhero cape, will be joined by walkers dressed as their favorite hero for the walk Oct. 1 at Jarvis Creek Park on Hilton Head. The walk is an effort to raise awareness, money and hope for people living with TSC.
Chloe is 10-years old and is a fifth grader at Michael C. Riley Elementary School. She was diagnosed at the age of 3 when she began having seizures. The disease causes noncancerous tumors to grow in the vital organs, particularly the heart, brain, skin, lungs, kidneys and eyes. TSC is the leading genetic cause of epilepsy and autism. Chloe’s mother Amy said about one million people suffer from the disease worldwide.
With each doctor’s visit, Amy asked questions to better understand her daughter’s diagnosis, and was eventually referred to a TSC specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio, where the family began traveling every six months for the first two years since her diagnosis for MRIs and treatments.
Some people are much more affected by TSC, Amy said; some will never walk or talk; some have hundreds of seizures a day; some have undergone countless brain, kidney or heart surgeries and others don’t even survive.
Because of TSC, Chloe has tumors in her brain, skin and one eye. She also has polycystic kidney disease and will eventually require a kidney transplant.
“But Chloe does not let any of that get her down,” Amy said. “She pushes through every challenge that comes her way; she fights back the tears as doctors, nurses and lab technicians poke and prod; she takes her medicine twice a day without arguing and if she wants to achieve something, she works at it until it happens.”
Amy now keeps in touch with other parents on Facebook and through different groups of people who have children living with TSC.
“It’s kind of my mission in life now,” Amy said. “People have been really generous and supportive; a lot of people come to the walk and it’s a great event.”
Through the walks, the Bredeson family has raised nearly $20,000 since Chloe’s diagnosis, Amy said. They began by going to the walks held in Columbia, S. C., and would raise about $1,000 for the organization, but then when so much interest arose in Hilton Head, Bluffton and the surrounding areas, they decided to bring the walk here and have raised nearly $9,000 each of the past two years. [Read more]
Pay it Forward
From The Leader, Wrexham, United Kingdom
A YOUNG man who has undergone two kidney transplant operations is raising funds for the hospital that helped him and two relatives through serious illness.
Dylan Lewis, 22, of Coedpoeth, spent two years on dialysis at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before receiving a kidney transplant in 2014.
His cousin Colleen Matthews, 25, of Coedpoeth, who had a kidney transplant from her 23-year-old brother Stephen last year, received regular check ups at the hospital and his grandmother Sheila Roberts, 76, had breast cancer treatment at the Shooting Star unit in 2015.
Dylan has arranged an evening of entertainment at Brymbo Sports and Social Complex on Saturday to raise funds for both wards.
He said the event was his way of “saying thank you and giving a bit back” to the hospital which “looked after me very well”.
“They have helped my family an awful lot. They have been really supportive,” he added.
Dylan, who had polycystic kidney disease, received a kidney and liver transplant when he was just 12.
The kidney failed and he spent five years on dialysis at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool and another two at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before his transplant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, in September, 2014.
In 2014 Dylan organised a similar event at the same venue, which raised £3,119 for Alder Hey.
The dialysis treatment, he said, was “really restricting and physically draining”, but added he felt “amazing” two years on from the transplant.
“You don’t realise how ill you were until after you are ‘normal’, I suppose,” he added.
Both Colleen and Mrs Roberts are doing well.
Dylan is studying a BTEC in live events and production at Coleg Cambria in Wrexham and hopes to go to university next year.
He thanked friend Vona Law, from Bryneglwys, for helping him to organise Saturday’s event.
Entertainment will include live performances from the Sidelights DJ duo Terry and Jude, as well as a raffle.
Admission to the event, which starts at 7.30pm, is £5 on the door.
Dylan Lewis, 22, of Coedpoeth, spent two years on dialysis at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before receiving a kidney transplant in 2014.
His cousin Colleen Matthews, 25, of Coedpoeth, who had a kidney transplant from her 23-year-old brother Stephen last year, received regular check ups at the hospital and his grandmother Sheila Roberts, 76, had breast cancer treatment at the Shooting Star unit in 2015.
Dylan has arranged an evening of entertainment at Brymbo Sports and Social Complex on Saturday to raise funds for both wards.
He said the event was his way of “saying thank you and giving a bit back” to the hospital which “looked after me very well”.
“They have helped my family an awful lot. They have been really supportive,” he added.
Dylan, who had polycystic kidney disease, received a kidney and liver transplant when he was just 12.
The kidney failed and he spent five years on dialysis at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool and another two at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before his transplant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, in September, 2014.
In 2014 Dylan organised a similar event at the same venue, which raised £3,119 for Alder Hey.
The dialysis treatment, he said, was “really restricting and physically draining”, but added he felt “amazing” two years on from the transplant.
“You don’t realise how ill you were until after you are ‘normal’, I suppose,” he added.
Both Colleen and Mrs Roberts are doing well.
Dylan is studying a BTEC in live events and production at Coleg Cambria in Wrexham and hopes to go to university next year.
He thanked friend Vona Law, from Bryneglwys, for helping him to organise Saturday’s event.
Entertainment will include live performances from the Sidelights DJ duo Terry and Jude, as well as a raffle.
Admission to the event, which starts at 7.30pm, is £5 on the door.
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