From PKD Foundation, Webinar Wednesdays
A discussion about (pioglitazone) Actos as a potential therapy for PKD
Register to attend:
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 12 - 1 p.m. CDT
PKD Foundation Chief Scientific Officer David Baron, Ph.D., will discuss the new study looking at (pioglitazone) Actos as a potential drug therapy for PKD. Guest speaker Bonnie Blazer-Yost, Ph.D., principal investigator for the study, will join the discussion.
PKD Awareness
From WOWT, Channel 6 NBC Affiliate, Omaha, Nebraska, By: Erin Murray
Jennifer Russell is not pretending with her daughter Emma, 4, as she puts a blood pressure cuff on her little arm.
"Alright, can you hold that in that arm for me and give me this arm?" said Russell.
This little check is a daily routine.
"Alright Emma is about a 110," said Russell with a look of slight disappointment on her face.
A blood pressure reading of 110 would be great for an adult, but for a four-year-old girl who weighs 40 pounds, the number is really high.
On the outside, Emma appears to be a normal girl. She likes Frozen, plays dress-up, climbs on things and loves to color.
"She is very much more outgoing than I am. She will tell every single person in line at the grocery store. 'Hi, I am Emma, I am four. I have kidney disease," said Russell.
To be more exact, Emma has polycystic kidney disease, better known as PKD. PKD is one of the most common and life threatening genetic diseases. People with PKD develop enlarging fluid-filled cysts in both their kidneys.
"And as those cysts overtake the kidney, they don't filter like they are supposed to," said Russell.
Currently there is no cure and there is no treatment. So most likely, one day Emma will go on dialysis and she will need a kidney transplant.
Already Emma's kidney's are much larger than they should be. An adults kidney's range between 11 to 14 centimeters and Emma's are 10.8 and 11.2 centimeters.
To bring awareness and to raise money for research, Russell is taking part in the Nebraska Walk for PKD on October 3rd. It will take place at Walnut Creek Recreation Area.
From WFTS ABC Affiliate, Tampa Bay, Florida, by Ashley Yore
We’re taking action for your health, raising awareness about polycystic kidney disease. It is the single most life-threatening genetic illness and one the Bragan family of Tampa is battling daily.
Living pain-free is a distant memory for Erika Bragan.
“Slowed me down, it has made me very tired, made it so that I can't do the things that I want to do,” Erika said.
She's up against polycystic kidney disease, the same disease that killed her mother.
You have these fluid filled cysts on the kidney that stop the kidney from functioning,” Erika’s husband, Scott Bragan, said.
That leaves toxins in the body. When Erika's symptoms started getting worse in 2008, her husband Scott decided to get involved. They've raised about $100,000 dollars for PKD and Scott's about to run his eighth marathon to gain awareness.
“Feeling that pain, in some way I feel like I'm sharing some of her pain,” Scott said.
Neither of them expected someone to share what Erika needs most, a kidney, until they met Jennifer Thomas, who's getting tested to be a donor.
“I just feel like I'm doing the right thing, it's not to me any exceptional act,” Thomas said.
She met a friend of the Bragans on a blind date and this complete stranger wanted to help.
“I think the more important question is, why is it so shocking that I would?” Thomas said.
Thomas is going through her final testing now and could be giving Erika a kidney in the next few weeks.
“I almost feel like the planet are aligned and that she's come down from the heavens and she's our angel,” Scott said.
“I think it's absolutely amazing,” Erika said.
Erika said she can't wait for normal life and feeling healthy with her family.
“I want to be there with them I want to enjoy a meal with them I just want to enjoy the day to day things without having to worry about if I'm going to get sick or not,” Erika said.
Doctors want Erika to start dialysis any day now, but Thomas’ kidney could come just in time.
The Bragans encourage everyone to get tested to see if they could become living donors. There are a number of ways you can support Team PKD.
Team Tampa PKD presents Drive for a Cure, a charity scramble golf tournament, at Eagles Golf Club in Odessa, FL, Friday October 2. For details call Kevin O’Brien 813-545-5450 or e-mail golf@t2pkd.org .
The Halloween Boo Bash benefiting PKD will be at the Italian Club of Ybor City on Friday October 16. For more details call 813-399-6420.
The Unite to Fight PKD was is Saturday October 17 at Fort De Soto Park, Shelter 14, 2500 Pinellas Bayway South Tierra Verde, FL. Check in is at 9:30 am. For more information contacttampawalk@pkdcure.org .
From Daily Observer, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada By Sean Chase
Pembroke Kidney Walk raises $18,000
The Pembroke Kidney Walk saw its largest level of support yet Saturday as a record number of donors turned out to shine the light on a silent disease.
It was a rather warm early fall day as more than 60 people gathered at the Pembroke Waterfront’s Riverwalk Amphitheatre to kick off this year’s fundraiser for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Once the monetary and online donations were counted, organizers announced they reached $18,000. Walks were held province-wide over the weekend with the goal of raising $850,000. The money will go to the the Kidney Foundation of Canada, an organization that supports kidney disease education, patient support programs, research and advocacy on the disease.
Hosting the event once more was the Sutherland family of Pembroke (Don, Cathy, Colleen, Meghan and Heather). The Sutherlands have been key proponents of the Kidney Foundation since Don was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and received a transplant after a live donation from his wife, Cathy, in 2008. Event co-ordinator Heather Sutherland remarked that the high number of participants shows how far reaching the disease has become in this area.
“It does affect a lot of people and more than the general public realizes,” she said. “The Sutherland Team is just happy to support the cause and bring the awareness locally. It's just great to see all these people come out and support it and come together as a community.”
One in 10 Canadians currently has kidney disease. The organization notes that 1,000 Ontarians are currently waiting for kidney transplants, while the number of Canadians being treated for kidney failure has tripled in the last 20 years. Bruce Hill, senior development manager with the Kidney Foundation, estimated there are 20 residents from Pembroke alone requiring constant dialysis, which is only offered regionally in Pembroke, Renfrew and Barry's Bay. He added there is a four to six year waiting list for transplants unless a donor is available.
“The sad reality is it's a silent disease,” said Hill. “You don't really don't know your kidneys fail until you are literally in the hospital with all sorts of symptoms. There is no cure and only two kinds of treatments – dialysis or transplant.”
The two most common and preventable causes of end-stage kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure, although some kidney diseases like polycystic kidney disease, for instance, are also inheritable. Renfrew County has the highest incidence of polycystic kidney disease in the province. [Read more]
Solving Organ Shortage Announces Strategic Research Goals to Regenerate or Bioengineer a Kidney
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solving Organ Shortage today announced the Phase One Strategic Research Goals identified by its Whole Kidney Research Community, a multidisciplinary group of senior academic investigators collaborating to develop techniques and technologies to regenerate failing kidneys or engineer replacement organs for use in transplantation. By identifying which challenges to tackle first, SOS hopes to focus the field and accelerate progress toward solving the worldwide shortage of donor kidneys that is expected to worsen in the coming decade as the population in industrialized countries ages.
“U.S. taxpayers already pay over $40 billion dollars annually to treat end-stage renal disease and that number is steadily climbing.”
The research goals were the result of the 2015 Kidney Regeneration & Bioengineering State-of-the-Science Summit, organized by SOS and led by Dr. Thomas Carroll, associate professor of internal medicine and molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Dr. Leif Oxburgh, principal investigator in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. To gain a holistic perspective of the challenges, SOS convened transplant clinicians and senior academic investigators from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental and stem cell biologists and tissue engineers. The two-day meeting enabled participants to share current research strategies and formulate a path forward.
Because the most common causes of chronic kidney disease are high blood pressure and obesity-linked diabetes, kidney disease is near epidemic. “It is a major health care burden affecting more than 26 million people in this country,” said Dr. Carroll. “U.S. taxpayers already pay over $40 billion dollars annually to treat end-stage renal disease and that number is steadily climbing.”
Over 85 percent of the more than 100,000 people currently on the waiting list for a donor kidney will not receive a transplant, according to Dr. Oxburgh. “For those who can’t get a kidney, only dialysis and supportive treatments are available. The average life expectancy for someone receiving dialysis is five years and quality of life is significantly impaired. Scientists are eager to provide a solution, but it will take close collaboration and dedicated funding.”
SOS, a global nonprofit, provides its organ-specific Research Communities organizational and administrative support to sustain forward momentum. Its main contribution, however, is raising monies to fund their identified strategic research initiatives. “Our goal is to award outcome-oriented grants to ensure consistent progress,” said Ronald Landes, president of SOS. “We focus our efforts on securing the financial contributions needed to support a science-driven effort to solve the organ shortage.”
About Solving Organ Shortage
Solving Organ Shortage is a nonprofit supporting a science-driven effort to regenerate or engineer replacement organs for human transplant by funding high-impact research projects. SOS Summits are designed to bring top academic investigators and clinicians together to form a virtual research institute focused on identifying strategic research goals that advance the organization’s mission to solve the organ shortage. For the latest SOS news and information please visit www.SolvingOrganShortage.org, or follow us on Twitter.
Contacts
Solving Organ Shortage
Catarina Wylie, 512-637-6762
cwylie@sosorgans.org
or
Cassie Pinkerton, 512-637-6762
cpinkerton@sosorgans.org
From Columbus Dispatch, Byline: New York Times, By Paula Span
Is it really possible that half of the population older than 70 has chronic kidney disease?
International guidelines adopted in 2012 make it seem that way. They define the disease in terms of how efficiently kidneys filter the waste from blood, a measure called the “glomerular filtration rate” or GFR.
Healthy young people commonly have GFRs of about 120. A GFR lower than 60, or another marker of kidney damage, such as protein in the urine, for more than three months means chronic kidney disease.
“When you’re told you have a disease, that’s a bad day,” said Dr. Ann O’Hare, a nephrologist at the University of Washington-Seattle who specializes in treating older adults.
Chronic kidney disease causes no symptoms until its later stages, and most seniors with the diagnosis are told they’re at Stage 3, of five. But kidney function declines with age in almost everyone, and the proportion of older people with GFR readings below 60 approaches 50 percent, studies have found.
Yet the proportion of older people who will ever reach kidney failure, and thus need dialysis or a transplant, remains low. The lifetime risk of kidney failure in the United States is 3.6 percent for whites and 8 percent for African-Americans, one widely cited study found.
A number of physicians and researchers are now arguing — most recently in JAMA — that the guidelines should be recalibrated by age.
By using the same standards for everyone, “we’re labeling and medicalizing and victimizing a substantial fraction of the elderly population,” said Dr. Richard Glassock, who is an author of theJAMAarticle and a nephrologist at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Glassock and others propose that in people older than 65, the diagnosis should require a GFR reading of less than 45.
In the same JAMA issue, though, another group of physician researchers warn against changing the guidelines.
“Having chronic kidney disease increases the risk of death from any cause, but particularly cardiovascular disease,” a co-author, Dr. Andrew Levey, chief of nephrology at Tufts Medical Center, said in an interview.
They argue that an older person with low GFR and protein in his urine (called proteinuria or albuminuria) can take steps to reduce the risk of kidney failure.
A diagnosis also can help patients avoid drugs that can harm kidneys, Levey said. Doctors can modify medication dosages and warn older patients away from drugs that can impair kidney function.
No special screening is required to learn one’s glomerular filtration rate. It’s part of the common basic metabolic panel.
One thing the kidney-disease combatants agree on is that a GFR of less than 60 should prompt a conversation to explain that kidneys age with the rest of us.
“I don’t think this is something to lose sleep over,” O’Hare tells patients with modestly lower but stable GFR, and no other indications of kidney damage. “That’s often a huge relief.”
From Community News, Australia, by Sarah Waters
Kidney transplant patient remembers agonising wait
JOHN Bloor (63) remembers the agonising wait until he heard the news he had a new kidney.
"The person was at Charles Gairdner Hospital on life support – they were turning the machine off," he said.
“There were two of us there waiting for a kidney because he was giving a kidney to each of us."
"It was a horrible position to be in… just waiting there all sorts of thoughts go through your mind."
It has been three months since Mr Bloor received his kidney and he is extremely grateful to the donor who gave him a new lease on life.
Before his transplant, he had been undergoing home dialysis four days a week for two years due to kidney failure, which resulted from a genetic condition known as polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
Mr Bloor’s mother had the disease, which is characterised by the growth of cysts on the kidneys.
It was passed on to three of her four sons.
Mr Bloor’s second eldest brother Geoffrey, who was not affected by the disease, donated a kidney to brother Murray about 10 years ago.
His half-brother Kevin Rumble received a kidney from his wife Esther about five years ago, but Mr Bloor had to go on dialysis while he waited to get a kidney from a donor.
He was diagnosed with PKD about 20 years ago, but the disease led to complete kidney failure two years ago.
“As the kidneys go downhill you always feel that little bit more lethargic and sick – where you want to throw up in the morning,” he said.
“It (PKD) is a very slow process, but you can’t do a lot for it. Towards the end there if I had watched my diet a bit better my kidneys would have lasted longer – diet plays a big part.”
Mr Bloor was put on home dialysis, which meant he could hook himself up to a dialysis machine at home instead of having to travel to hospital four times a week to have his blood cleaned.
Each time he had dialysis it would take him an hour and 15 minutes to set the machine up and 15 minutes to get the needle into his arm via a fistula.
He then spent four-and-a-half hours sitting next to the machine while it replicated the role of the kidneys and filtered toxins out of the blood.
“It takes over your life. All you really want is to move away from needles,” he said.
It took Mr Bloor three months before he could go on the kidney transplant waiting list as there were a number of things to consider before a transplant can take place, including the age and health of the patient.
Nine months later, he received the much-anticipated news that a compatible kidney had been found for him.
Mr Bloor is on medication to ensure his body won’t reject the new organ, but he is now free from dialysis.
“I can go fishing in the morning and not have to worry about rushing back to go on the dialysis machine,” he said,
“I still have to be careful and watch my diet, but it does change your life so much.”
Living pain-free is a distant memory for Erika Bragan.
“Slowed me down, it has made me very tired, made it so that I can't do the things that I want to do,” Erika said.
She's up against polycystic kidney disease, the same disease that killed her mother.
You have these fluid filled cysts on the kidney that stop the kidney from functioning,” Erika’s husband, Scott Bragan, said.
That leaves toxins in the body. When Erika's symptoms started getting worse in 2008, her husband Scott decided to get involved. They've raised about $100,000 dollars for PKD and Scott's about to run his eighth marathon to gain awareness.
“Feeling that pain, in some way I feel like I'm sharing some of her pain,” Scott said.
Neither of them expected someone to share what Erika needs most, a kidney, until they met Jennifer Thomas, who's getting tested to be a donor.
“I just feel like I'm doing the right thing, it's not to me any exceptional act,” Thomas said.
She met a friend of the Bragans on a blind date and this complete stranger wanted to help.
“I think the more important question is, why is it so shocking that I would?” Thomas said.
Thomas is going through her final testing now and could be giving Erika a kidney in the next few weeks.
“I almost feel like the planet are aligned and that she's come down from the heavens and she's our angel,” Scott said.
“I think it's absolutely amazing,” Erika said.
Erika said she can't wait for normal life and feeling healthy with her family.
“I want to be there with them I want to enjoy a meal with them I just want to enjoy the day to day things without having to worry about if I'm going to get sick or not,” Erika said.
Doctors want Erika to start dialysis any day now, but Thomas’ kidney could come just in time.
The Bragans encourage everyone to get tested to see if they could become living donors. There are a number of ways you can support Team PKD.
Team Tampa PKD presents Drive for a Cure, a charity scramble golf tournament, at Eagles Golf Club in Odessa, FL, Friday October 2. For details call Kevin O’Brien 813-545-5450 or e-mail golf@t2pkd.org .
The Halloween Boo Bash benefiting PKD will be at the Italian Club of Ybor City on Friday October 16. For more details call 813-399-6420.
The Unite to Fight PKD was is Saturday October 17 at Fort De Soto Park, Shelter 14, 2500 Pinellas Bayway South Tierra Verde, FL. Check in is at 9:30 am. For more information contacttampawalk@pkdcure.org .
From Daily Observer, Pembroke, Ontario, Canada By Sean Chase
The Pembroke Kidney Walk saw its largest level of support yet Saturday as a record number of donors turned out to shine the light on a silent disease.
It was a rather warm early fall day as more than 60 people gathered at the Pembroke Waterfront’s Riverwalk Amphitheatre to kick off this year’s fundraiser for the Kidney Foundation of Canada.
Once the monetary and online donations were counted, organizers announced they reached $18,000. Walks were held province-wide over the weekend with the goal of raising $850,000. The money will go to the the Kidney Foundation of Canada, an organization that supports kidney disease education, patient support programs, research and advocacy on the disease.
Hosting the event once more was the Sutherland family of Pembroke (Don, Cathy, Colleen, Meghan and Heather). The Sutherlands have been key proponents of the Kidney Foundation since Don was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and received a transplant after a live donation from his wife, Cathy, in 2008. Event co-ordinator Heather Sutherland remarked that the high number of participants shows how far reaching the disease has become in this area.
“It does affect a lot of people and more than the general public realizes,” she said. “The Sutherland Team is just happy to support the cause and bring the awareness locally. It's just great to see all these people come out and support it and come together as a community.”
One in 10 Canadians currently has kidney disease. The organization notes that 1,000 Ontarians are currently waiting for kidney transplants, while the number of Canadians being treated for kidney failure has tripled in the last 20 years. Bruce Hill, senior development manager with the Kidney Foundation, estimated there are 20 residents from Pembroke alone requiring constant dialysis, which is only offered regionally in Pembroke, Renfrew and Barry's Bay. He added there is a four to six year waiting list for transplants unless a donor is available.
“The sad reality is it's a silent disease,” said Hill. “You don't really don't know your kidneys fail until you are literally in the hospital with all sorts of symptoms. There is no cure and only two kinds of treatments – dialysis or transplant.”
The two most common and preventable causes of end-stage kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure, although some kidney diseases like polycystic kidney disease, for instance, are also inheritable. Renfrew County has the highest incidence of polycystic kidney disease in the province. [Read more]
Kidney Issues
From Business Wire, Press Release
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solving Organ Shortage today announced the Phase One Strategic Research Goals identified by its Whole Kidney Research Community, a multidisciplinary group of senior academic investigators collaborating to develop techniques and technologies to regenerate failing kidneys or engineer replacement organs for use in transplantation. By identifying which challenges to tackle first, SOS hopes to focus the field and accelerate progress toward solving the worldwide shortage of donor kidneys that is expected to worsen in the coming decade as the population in industrialized countries ages.
“U.S. taxpayers already pay over $40 billion dollars annually to treat end-stage renal disease and that number is steadily climbing.”
The research goals were the result of the 2015 Kidney Regeneration & Bioengineering State-of-the-Science Summit, organized by SOS and led by Dr. Thomas Carroll, associate professor of internal medicine and molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Dr. Leif Oxburgh, principal investigator in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. To gain a holistic perspective of the challenges, SOS convened transplant clinicians and senior academic investigators from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental and stem cell biologists and tissue engineers. The two-day meeting enabled participants to share current research strategies and formulate a path forward.
Because the most common causes of chronic kidney disease are high blood pressure and obesity-linked diabetes, kidney disease is near epidemic. “It is a major health care burden affecting more than 26 million people in this country,” said Dr. Carroll. “U.S. taxpayers already pay over $40 billion dollars annually to treat end-stage renal disease and that number is steadily climbing.”
Over 85 percent of the more than 100,000 people currently on the waiting list for a donor kidney will not receive a transplant, according to Dr. Oxburgh. “For those who can’t get a kidney, only dialysis and supportive treatments are available. The average life expectancy for someone receiving dialysis is five years and quality of life is significantly impaired. Scientists are eager to provide a solution, but it will take close collaboration and dedicated funding.”
SOS, a global nonprofit, provides its organ-specific Research Communities organizational and administrative support to sustain forward momentum. Its main contribution, however, is raising monies to fund their identified strategic research initiatives. “Our goal is to award outcome-oriented grants to ensure consistent progress,” said Ronald Landes, president of SOS. “We focus our efforts on securing the financial contributions needed to support a science-driven effort to solve the organ shortage.”
About Solving Organ Shortage
Solving Organ Shortage is a nonprofit supporting a science-driven effort to regenerate or engineer replacement organs for human transplant by funding high-impact research projects. SOS Summits are designed to bring top academic investigators and clinicians together to form a virtual research institute focused on identifying strategic research goals that advance the organization’s mission to solve the organ shortage. For the latest SOS news and information please visit www.SolvingOrganShortage.org, or follow us on Twitter.
Contacts
Solving Organ Shortage
Catarina Wylie, 512-637-6762
cwylie@sosorgans.org
or
Cassie Pinkerton, 512-637-6762
cpinkerton@sosorgans.org
International guidelines adopted in 2012 make it seem that way. They define the disease in terms of how efficiently kidneys filter the waste from blood, a measure called the “glomerular filtration rate” or GFR.
Healthy young people commonly have GFRs of about 120. A GFR lower than 60, or another marker of kidney damage, such as protein in the urine, for more than three months means chronic kidney disease.
“When you’re told you have a disease, that’s a bad day,” said Dr. Ann O’Hare, a nephrologist at the University of Washington-Seattle who specializes in treating older adults.
Chronic kidney disease causes no symptoms until its later stages, and most seniors with the diagnosis are told they’re at Stage 3, of five. But kidney function declines with age in almost everyone, and the proportion of older people with GFR readings below 60 approaches 50 percent, studies have found.
Yet the proportion of older people who will ever reach kidney failure, and thus need dialysis or a transplant, remains low. The lifetime risk of kidney failure in the United States is 3.6 percent for whites and 8 percent for African-Americans, one widely cited study found.
A number of physicians and researchers are now arguing — most recently in JAMA — that the guidelines should be recalibrated by age.
By using the same standards for everyone, “we’re labeling and medicalizing and victimizing a substantial fraction of the elderly population,” said Dr. Richard Glassock, who is an author of theJAMAarticle and a nephrologist at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Glassock and others propose that in people older than 65, the diagnosis should require a GFR reading of less than 45.
In the same JAMA issue, though, another group of physician researchers warn against changing the guidelines.
“Having chronic kidney disease increases the risk of death from any cause, but particularly cardiovascular disease,” a co-author, Dr. Andrew Levey, chief of nephrology at Tufts Medical Center, said in an interview.
They argue that an older person with low GFR and protein in his urine (called proteinuria or albuminuria) can take steps to reduce the risk of kidney failure.
A diagnosis also can help patients avoid drugs that can harm kidneys, Levey said. Doctors can modify medication dosages and warn older patients away from drugs that can impair kidney function.
No special screening is required to learn one’s glomerular filtration rate. It’s part of the common basic metabolic panel.
One thing the kidney-disease combatants agree on is that a GFR of less than 60 should prompt a conversation to explain that kidneys age with the rest of us.
“I don’t think this is something to lose sleep over,” O’Hare tells patients with modestly lower but stable GFR, and no other indications of kidney damage. “That’s often a huge relief.”
Gift of Life
"The person was at Charles Gairdner Hospital on life support – they were turning the machine off," he said.
“There were two of us there waiting for a kidney because he was giving a kidney to each of us."
"It was a horrible position to be in… just waiting there all sorts of thoughts go through your mind."
It has been three months since Mr Bloor received his kidney and he is extremely grateful to the donor who gave him a new lease on life.
Before his transplant, he had been undergoing home dialysis four days a week for two years due to kidney failure, which resulted from a genetic condition known as polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
Mr Bloor’s mother had the disease, which is characterised by the growth of cysts on the kidneys.
It was passed on to three of her four sons.
Mr Bloor’s second eldest brother Geoffrey, who was not affected by the disease, donated a kidney to brother Murray about 10 years ago.
His half-brother Kevin Rumble received a kidney from his wife Esther about five years ago, but Mr Bloor had to go on dialysis while he waited to get a kidney from a donor.
He was diagnosed with PKD about 20 years ago, but the disease led to complete kidney failure two years ago.
“As the kidneys go downhill you always feel that little bit more lethargic and sick – where you want to throw up in the morning,” he said.
“It (PKD) is a very slow process, but you can’t do a lot for it. Towards the end there if I had watched my diet a bit better my kidneys would have lasted longer – diet plays a big part.”
Mr Bloor was put on home dialysis, which meant he could hook himself up to a dialysis machine at home instead of having to travel to hospital four times a week to have his blood cleaned.
Each time he had dialysis it would take him an hour and 15 minutes to set the machine up and 15 minutes to get the needle into his arm via a fistula.
He then spent four-and-a-half hours sitting next to the machine while it replicated the role of the kidneys and filtered toxins out of the blood.
“It takes over your life. All you really want is to move away from needles,” he said.
It took Mr Bloor three months before he could go on the kidney transplant waiting list as there were a number of things to consider before a transplant can take place, including the age and health of the patient.
Nine months later, he received the much-anticipated news that a compatible kidney had been found for him.
Mr Bloor is on medication to ensure his body won’t reject the new organ, but he is now free from dialysis.
“I can go fishing in the morning and not have to worry about rushing back to go on the dialysis machine,” he said,
“I still have to be careful and watch my diet, but it does change your life so much.”
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