From PKD Foundation
Video series: Give hope
All month long, we have followed the inspiring PKD stories of the Phelps and the Wiesman families - but their journeys are far from over. Watch our video to hear more about how their connections with the PKD Foundation have helped them along the way and their hopes for the future.
From NorthGlen News, South Africa
Obesity a strong factor in developing kidney disease
OBESITY poses a huge threat in the development of kidney disease. Experts say that there is a strong link between the development of kidney disease and obesity.
“Our kidneys are one of those things we take for granted until we’re diagnosed with kidney problems only then do we start being more careful,” said Gopalan Gounden, a 62 year-old former police officer who says he had to retire due to health problems. Gounden suffers from Polycystic Kidney Disease, a hereditary illness. He urged people to take care of their body’s organs. “When you have be placed on dialysis, like me, the machine only removes certain toxins from your body, so you have to take various injections as well. Dialysis is not a replacement for all the work which your kidneys naturally do for you.”
Risk factors
Obesity increases the risk of developing factors associated with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), like diabetes and hypertension. These risk factors have a direct impact on the development of CKD and end stage renal disease. This is because in individuals affected by obesity, the kidneys have to work harder to filter more blood than normal to meet the metabolic demands of the increased body weight. The increase in function can damage the kidney and raise the risk of developing CKD in the long-term.
The kidneys are an essential organ to the human body. They remove toxins and excess water from the blood. Kidneys also help to control blood pressure, produce red blood cells and keep bones healthy.
Being proactive
“It’s important that people are careful and become more proactive with their health,” Gounden said. “In my case, I want people to know that taking their organs for granted has a serious impact on your lifestyle. I have to have dialysis three times a week and if I want to travel I need to make arrangements for a dialysis unit wherever I go. You also can’t travel to places where you can easily pick up an infection.”
The International Society of Nephrology and The International Federation of Kidney Foundations (the organisers of the annual awareness campaign) say that obesity, as well as CKD, is largely preventable. Education and awareness of the risks of obesity and a healthy lifestyle, including proper nutrition and exercise, can dramatically help in preventing obesity and kidney disease.
Hope Foster needs a kidney.
But really she wants two: one for her young friend, Kenon, and another for herself.
Foster, 41, lives in Burlington with her husband, Danny, and her children, Kameron and twins Hayden and Sophia.
Three decades ago, her father, Duain Penland, who suffered from polycystic kidney disease, received a kidney from his wife, Nancy.
He’s done great for the past 30 years, despite other health problems.
“We call him the ‘Energizer Bunny,’” Foster said. “He ‘takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.’”
Now, Foster, who inherited her father’s disease, is the one in need of a new kidney.
She recently began dialysis, three days a week for three hours and 45 minutes each time.
She spends that time volunteering for the Clover Garden Charter School parent/teacher group “to keep me busy and to not go crazy.”
FOSTER ALSO HAS forged a special bond with Kenon McCollum, a third-grader who attends Clover Garden with her son, Kameron.
The boys are good friends. They have sleepovers, and Foster is generous with pizza.
Kenon is a polite boy with a cute grin. He answers “good” to a lot of questions. He loves to play baseball and wants to be a pro baseball player when he grows up.
He helps his parents, Ashly and Brad, take care of his little brothers.
Kenon had a kidney transplant when he was just 22 months old.
But now, that kidney is failing.
So Kenon, like Foster, needs a kidney.
They have the same blood type, so they are looking for the same type of match.
“If there was an option, and if it came down to me and him, I would want him to have it first,” Foster said.
Both Foster and Kenon are on the national transplant list. The average wait time for a kidney is five to eight years.
People have been tested to see whether their kidneys were a match for Foster, but they weren’t. Even so, “they are angels,” Foster said.
The first one to test was her husband, Danny.
He wasn’t a match, but they discovered during the testing that he had kidney cancer.
He’s fine now.
APRIL IS NATIONAL Donate Life Month.
Foster and her father are encouraging people to become organ donors, whether living or deceased.
The living procedure is done laparoscopically, with doctors accessing the kidney through three little holes in the abdomen.
“It’s a gift,” Penland said.
The father and daughter say that many people are scared of the prospect of donating to someone.
“My view on organ donation is very familiar,” Foster said. “But it’s a touchy subject. If you really understand organ donation and how it works, and how many people can be affected, I think you would change your mind. No one will ever know the true meaning of organ donation until it hits your family. When it hits your family, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
For more information about becoming a living donor, got to the UNC kidney donor website athttps://tinyurl.com/mue2wlm, or contact Amy Woodard, UNC Hospitals’ living donor coordinator, at 984-974-7568.
But really she wants two: one for her young friend, Kenon, and another for herself.
Foster, 41, lives in Burlington with her husband, Danny, and her children, Kameron and twins Hayden and Sophia.
Three decades ago, her father, Duain Penland, who suffered from polycystic kidney disease, received a kidney from his wife, Nancy.
He’s done great for the past 30 years, despite other health problems.
“We call him the ‘Energizer Bunny,’” Foster said. “He ‘takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.’”
Now, Foster, who inherited her father’s disease, is the one in need of a new kidney.
She recently began dialysis, three days a week for three hours and 45 minutes each time.
She spends that time volunteering for the Clover Garden Charter School parent/teacher group “to keep me busy and to not go crazy.”
FOSTER ALSO HAS forged a special bond with Kenon McCollum, a third-grader who attends Clover Garden with her son, Kameron.
The boys are good friends. They have sleepovers, and Foster is generous with pizza.
Kenon is a polite boy with a cute grin. He answers “good” to a lot of questions. He loves to play baseball and wants to be a pro baseball player when he grows up.
He helps his parents, Ashly and Brad, take care of his little brothers.
Kenon had a kidney transplant when he was just 22 months old.
But now, that kidney is failing.
So Kenon, like Foster, needs a kidney.
They have the same blood type, so they are looking for the same type of match.
“If there was an option, and if it came down to me and him, I would want him to have it first,” Foster said.
Both Foster and Kenon are on the national transplant list. The average wait time for a kidney is five to eight years.
People have been tested to see whether their kidneys were a match for Foster, but they weren’t. Even so, “they are angels,” Foster said.
The first one to test was her husband, Danny.
He wasn’t a match, but they discovered during the testing that he had kidney cancer.
He’s fine now.
APRIL IS NATIONAL Donate Life Month.
Foster and her father are encouraging people to become organ donors, whether living or deceased.
The living procedure is done laparoscopically, with doctors accessing the kidney through three little holes in the abdomen.
“It’s a gift,” Penland said.
The father and daughter say that many people are scared of the prospect of donating to someone.
“My view on organ donation is very familiar,” Foster said. “But it’s a touchy subject. If you really understand organ donation and how it works, and how many people can be affected, I think you would change your mind. No one will ever know the true meaning of organ donation until it hits your family. When it hits your family, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
For more information about becoming a living donor, got to the UNC kidney donor website athttps://tinyurl.com/mue2wlm, or contact Amy Woodard, UNC Hospitals’ living donor coordinator, at 984-974-7568.
Graham Brown receiving treatment
A PAPHOS charity is again stepping in to donate two further lifesaving dialysis machines for Paphos renal unit, which the government is unable to fund, according to the charity head.
Graham Brown, the chairman of the Paphos Kidney Association, who has hereditary polycystic kidney disease and receives regular dialysis treatment at the unit to keep him alive, told the Sunday Mail that Paphos general hospital had requested their help.
Since 2000, they have donated 12 machines.
Each hemodiafiltration (HDF) unit comes with a 25,000 euro price tag. If a patient doesn’t receive dialysis when needed, they will die within five days.
“A few weeks ago the hospital asked us to donate two more dialysis machines as the government are not helping,” Brown said. “I told them we have enough money for one, and we are collecting for the second one. We are almost there, we have about ten thousand euros to go, and we hope to get that in around six weeks.”
He added that the charity aims to supply the unit with two new machines every year to replace old ones which have a lifespan of around 14 years.
Brown said that huge efforts are being made by the community, British expat residents in particular, to support the registered charity, and that they are hoping to do more to encourage Cypriots to join in.
“We are asking the mayor of Paphos, Phedonas Phedonos, if he will be our patron, to try and get more Cypriots involved.”
Following the removal of one of his kidneys at a Paphos hospital, Brown started dialysis treatment in November 2013. He is now one of many patients who need regular dialysis treatment to keep him alive.
He said that the renal unit at Paphos general hospital now has 16 machines which are working, some better than others.
“Five are new in the last few years, their lifespan is around 14 years but many others are getting worn out,” he said, concerned that the ageing machines are unable to cope with the growing demand for lifesaving treatment. Chronic kidney failure is permanent and irreversible and the only chance of survival is to wait for a transplant.
Nurses at the unit are having to work night shifts to keep up with the demand and a much-needed proposed extension, which has been backed by the hospital director, looks set to go ahead. The extension will create at least five more beds, making treatment easier for both patients and nurses.
“We have been pushing for an extension as there are now around 75 patients needing treatment and negotiations are coming to an end and it’s looking good.”
He said the extension is vital as the current one is cramped, and there is no room between the beds.
“You can’t even get a wheel chair down the middle of them,” he said.
Currently, 12 patients receive dialysis machines in the morning, 12 in the afternoon and three times a week, eight at night time
Brown has just completed his 500th dialysis treatment, each one takes five hours and he needs them three times a week to keep him alive. It costs around €50,000 to treat each patient a year.
Brown said he can’t fault the treatment itself, or the level of care and professionalism by staff at the hospital.
“The nurses are wonderful and the support of my wife Heather has been instrumental in keeping me going, she is my rock. Without this treatment, Heather would have been a widow four years ago.”
Although Brown’s condition is getting steadily worse, he remains a driving force behind the charity and was awarded the Heart of Gold award Cyprus for his efforts in 2015.
The association has done much to improve the unit, by raising money and purchasing a huge amount of equipment since its inception 15 years ago.
“It will cost around 170,000 euros to fully equip the extension and I hope that we can achieve that also,” he said.
Brown has just been presented with a cheque for 5,500 euros from Minthis Hills golf course, and a regular monthly ‘kidney quiz’ which is held at the UKCA organised by a British expat Peter Milligan, helps too, he said.
Further information is available at the charity’s Facebook page.
To organise an event for the Paphos Kidney Association: (00 357) 99244679 www.cypruskidney.com
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