By Dick Franklin
What a life this is. We have days filled with unimaginable bliss, enjoying each moment with enthusiasm or peaceful rest, and then in a moment we may see it all dissolve. This is what it was for me when told that I had end stage renal disease and would face a lifetime of dialysis without a kidney transplant.
I suppose it was not surprising. Read the full article in The Gazette.
BEING DIAGNOSED WITH KIDNEY FAILURE comes with many challenges. Medications, dialysis, the physical and emotional exhaustion. It’s all the more difficult if you develop end-stage kidney disease and need a kidney transplant.
For these individuals, there are only three treatment options:
It can be hard to ask for help, even in times of great need. We worry about being rejected, relinquishing control, or showing vulnerability. It’s just human nature.
So, imagine asking someone to donate a piece of themselves, literally, to help you. It takes a special kind of courage for patients in need of a transplant to ask friends, family, or the universe at large to donate a kidney or part of their liver to save their life.
Read more in Texas Metro News.
— In small study, researchers see “encouraging” survival outcomes
Select patients with unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLMs) had good survival outcomes following total hepatectomy and living-donor liver transplant (LDLT), a prospective study of 10 patients found.
In the series involving liver-confined metastatic disease in patients with a sustained response to oncologic therapy, Kaplan-Meier estimates of recurrence-free and overall survival at 1.5 years were an “encouraging” 62% and 100%, respectively, reported Gonzalo Sapisochin, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues. Read more.
John “JT” Thomas was a healthy 20-year-old in 2011. But at that year’s family Thanksgiving gathering, he found that he couldn’t even finish his first plate of food. His appetite was gone — and he was increasingly lightheaded.
His physicians had a chilling response to his symptoms, one that he recalls even today: “You shouldn’t be able to walk right now.” Read the full story here.
To calculate a KDPI score for a hypothetical or actual candidate, please enter data for each required variable.
Use here.
“It’s the story of two people who are a match in a perfect and unexpected way. In July 2019, Naperville resident Aaron Rhoden suffered a stroke due to his high blood pressure. Afterwards, his kidney functionality was so low that he needed a transplant. That’s when an “unusual alignment” happened according to his doctor.
His wife, Tonya Rhoden, didn’t hesitate to take the tests necessary and the two found out they were a perfect match. The couple, married since 2016, said one in every between 50,000 and 100,000 spouses will be a match. The two are “six out of 10 markers identical,” said Aaron in a story we did with the two back in April before the kidney transplant.”
Read full story here.
Mayo Clinic says the pool of people who can be living kidney donors has expanded following the results of a recent study. Doctors say the results can help save more lives.
Previously transplant physicians were concerned about transplanting kidneys from patients with high blood pressure because of the possible long-term health impacts to them while living with just one kidney.
The study from Mayo Clinic included more than 100 patients and was conducted over 20 years. Dr. Mark Stegall, the Professor of Surgery at Mayo Clinic Rochester, says researchers found certain individuals with controlled hypertension can safely donate a kidney.
Read more, here.
While COVID-19 continues to dominant the United States healthcare system, nearly 100,000 Americans are still on a waitlist for a kidney transplant and each day 12 patients die waiting for a kidney. National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Health Policy Director Miriam Godwin knows these statistics all too well and made the altruistic decision to take action and help others by becoming a living donor during National Donate Life Month in April. Like all incredibly selfless living donors, Godwin made a conscious choice to help others, but please don’t call her a hero.
“It’s difficult to live with the knowledge that some of the most vulnerable people in our society such as the elderly, communities of color, and those with limited financial means are waiting for kidney transplants, especially when kidney patients have been at such exceptionally high risk from COVID-19,” said Miriam Godwin, NKF Health Policy Director and a kidney transplant living donor. “It’s my job to make kidney transplants more accessible, but the tools to create system-level change are limited and take time. No one should be denied the opportunity for kidney health because of the circumstances of their birth. I became a living donor because I knew I could help one person right now, so I did. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.”
Read the full story, here.
“More than ever, living donors are coming forward and generously volunteering to give the gift of life to hundreds of PKD patients across America. These living donors make up a vital portion of the kidney transplants performed in the U.S. each year. About one-third of the kidney transplants in 2020 were living donations.
Right now, there’s no federal legislation protecting living organ donors from losing their jobs just for taking recovery leave for transplant surgery. Living donors also experience higher premiums and even denial of coverage for most forms of insurance. In fact, 25% of living donors are denied or charged more for life insurance.”
Learn more, here.