My name is Kevin. I am 52 years old. I lost kidney function when I was 50 years old after battling diabetes for most of my life. It was a nightmare at first. I lost all of my strength and stamina. I faced many sleepless nights. Finally, after starting in-center hemodialysis, I started feeling better.

When starting dialysis, I was introduced to my social worker, Jennifer Roberts. I told her I was starting the process of getting on the list for a kidney-pancreas transplant. The transplant center told me I needed to lose weight and stop smoking, which are two things very difficult for me to accomplish on my own. Jennifer told me about the Peg Smythe Fitness Grant, offered through the Shad Ireland Foundation. Its purpose is to assist dialysis patients in reaching their fitness goals under the supervision of a certified personal trainer at a local gym. I eagerly applied for the grant, with Jennifer’s assistance.

A few months later, the foundation informed me that I would be receiving a grant for a membership and personal training to my local YMCA. I am excited to start my exercise program at the YMCA so I can reach my goals.

I would like to thank the Shad Ireland Foundation for the grant and wonderful opportunity it will provide for me. I would also like to thank my social worker, Jennifer Roberts, for her kindness and knowledge, and most of all, just being herself.

Sincerely,
Kevin

I am a 43 year old single mother of two daughters, ages 19 and 15, and have been divorced for 11 years.  I ran marathons for the past 13 years, worked out at the gym for over twenty years.  Before I was diagnosed with kidney failure, I was a legal assistant in a law firm in Newport Beach; a volunteer with abusive children’s home; and a member of the Anti-Defamation League and Steinberg Leadership Institute. 

On February 1, 2005, was when my entire life changed and I was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure.  At the time, I had no symptoms [so I thought] and routine blood work showed that I had only five percent kidney function.  I was immediately admitted to the hospital where I had every diagnostic test performed, countless blood work, and surgery.  The surgery included a “fistula” and a temporary catheter.  My red blood cell count was 6.7.  Normal ranger is 11 to 13.  I was given a blood transfusion while in the hospital.

Soon after I was discharged from the hospital, the fistula clogged and I underwent a second surgery.  A few days later, the second fistula clogged.  The vascular surgeon then requested a “bilateral venogram” in which an IV was inserted into both of my arms and dye was injected to see which veins were the strongest to sew onto the main artery. A week later, the third surgery was performed and I thought this finally worked as we can actually feel the blood flow in my wrist. Among everything my girls and I have gone through on Wednesday, March 16, 2005, we laid to rest our pug, Lucky.  Lucky was diagnosed with, of all things, chronic renal failure. Less than a week after my third surgery, on March 17, 2005, the fistula failed and I am now faced with a fourth surgery. I have now had six surgeries in three months in an attempt to have a functioning fistula.  I had my fourth surgery on May 4, the fifth on May 20, and the sixth on May 22. 

On July 17, 2005, I was admitted to the emergency room because the catheter in my chest became infected.  On July 19 they removed the catheter and ran a biopsy to see if there was any bacterial infection.  The test came back negative.  Then, on July 21 I had another surgery to insert a new catheter. It has been a long and tiring road to recovery.  I have battled depression, insomnia, migraines, and countless trips to the emergency room.  Dialysis causes me to become so ill that I cannot function afterward.  I have lost all energy to enable me to run and workout. 

Then on March 20, 2006, I had my first telephone conversation with Shad.  Shad’s energy and enthusiasm has given me strength and inspiration to accomplish my dream of not only completing a marathon, but to qualify for Boston.  Shad told me that taking baby steps is what I need to do and not to expect to be at the level I was at before I became ill.  I shortly started training and although I have a long way to go, Shad has inspired me not to give up.

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In 1986 my kidneys failed and I began in-center dialysis. I was 21 years old. To say that the change from being a strapping, landscaper-by-trade, physically active individual to a person who got winded walking up a single flight of stairs was devastating only begins to touch on the truth of my experience with dialysis in those early years. For eight torturous months I watched helplessly as my body’s strength deteriorated and I fought a losing battle with the results of the process of being treated for my kidney disease: daily nausea, fatigue, physical discomfort, and psychological stress. A kidney transplant provided five years of relief. After the transplant failed, I resumed in-center dialysis. Though the technology of hemodialysis had improved and my experience was measurably better, I was still severely limited in my physical activities. My exercise was limited to sporadic bike rides that, though still enjoyable, ultimately only reinforced how restricted my physical life had become as compared to before my kidneys failed. Landscaping was out of the question so I pursued a career in my second love, mobile electronics. After a few progressively difficult years even the comparatively low physical demands of my new employment path became too much for me. Due to dialysis related problems with illness, stamina, fatigue, and the necessity of dialysis treatments three times per week, 5 hours per treatment, I had no choice but to leave my job.

Knowing that a career based on physical ability would not be possible as a dialysis patient I enrolled in college to pursue a degree in psychology. My goal was to obtain a doctorate degree and become a clinical psychologist. If I had known then that dialysis and its effects would cause my academic journey to take 11 years just to get my bachelor degree, I probably would have done something else. Along the way I tried CAPD in the hopes of feeling better and freeing up more of my time, but it didn’t work well for me. I am now doing home hemodialysis with the NxStage System One machine and am very happy with it. It allows me to dialyze on a schedule that I have much more control over and has left me feeling the best I ever have while on hemodialysis.

After meeting and talking with Shad my dreams and goals around exercise came roaring back in my mind. I had given up on hard, physical exercise (something that had been a very important part of my life) and now I want it back. Cycling is still my true exercise of choice. I plan on cross-training with weights and running to get my cycling conditioning to the point where I am able to achieve my goal of riding a section of the Tour de France (a shorter one!) next year. Thanks to Shad’s inspiration and assistance, the miles will once again be rolling beneath my wheels.

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