Kidney Disease has been a major part of my life since November, 1989. When my daughter, Leslie, was 11, she developed a disease that ultimately destroyed her kidney function. For the next year and a half, she was hooked up to a dialysis machine in her bedroom every night. During this time, I slept on the floor next to her bed, just in case her machine alarmed or she needed something. Dialysis was only one part of living with kidney disease. There were fluid limits and food restrictions (potatoes, cheese, chocolate were limited, if not forbidden).
Fortunately, in 1991, I was able to give Leslie one of my kidneys. Kidney transplantation is not a cure - only a means by which to live a little more normally with the disease. Ultimately, my kidney failed and she had to go back on dialysis again. This time she chose Hemodialysis - we went to a Dialysis Center 3 days a week and she was on the machine 3-1/2 hrs. each day. In 2000, Leslie received her second transplant...this time from a deceased person. Right from the start, the new kidney didn't work as well as it should, but it was four years before she ended up on dialysis again. In July of 2005, she received her third kidney - this one coming from a young man (Steven Michael Ecklid) who died tragically in an automobile accident. I am happy to say Leslie is feeling better now than she ever has.
However, I can't forget all the times Leslie was in the hospital (one year it was every holiday); the blood pressure being so high it caused seizures; or having so much fluid in her body she was rushed to ICU on a ventilator and being told she may not live through the night.
Kidney Disease is increasing every year at an alarming rate. There is a need for more research and education so others don't go through what Leslie has for over half of her life.
I am walking on May 5, 2007 in support of Leslie and the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan. If you would like to walk with me, I'd love to have you. If you can't walk with me, but can send a contribution, it would be most appreciated. The best thing we can all do is educate ourselves on this disease and pray that the upward trend is reversed.
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