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| Lewis's Story |
| Lewis received a treadmill from the foundation. |
I am legally blind and even though that complicates things my biggest obstacle is apathy and muscle weakness which is giving me
bad circulation in my legs caused by dialysis. My doctors tell me that walking will help but because apathy is so bad right now
walking far is hard. With a treadmill it would be a lot easier for me. I used to run, play football, and swim and box I won 3
Toledo Golden Glove Championships and fought professionally for 4 ½ years until I was forced to retire because of breaking my
hand twice. I know that I will not be in competitive sports but I still want to get myself back in to shape.
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| Rita's Story |
| Rita received a gym membership from the foundation. |
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 My name is Rita; I have been a diabetic for over 40 years. During those years I have suffered many physical inabilities due to my health problems, such as; asthma (use of a apnea machine), breast cancer (right breast mastectomy), retina detachment (loss of left eye), neuropathy in legs, high blood pressure and congested heart failure. I have also been diagnosed with kidney failure. All of these diseases took part on the effect of my daily performance. I hope by writing this letter to ask that I may be recommended for long-term physical rehabilitation for my medical necessity to help improve my everyday physical and mental abilities to strengthen and encourage my daily living routines and activities.
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| Jerome's Story |
| Jerome received a stationary bike from the foundation. |
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 Hi my name is Jerome. I started out as a diabetic and from there I got my leg amputated then my kidneys failed. I used to work out everyday until my kidneys started to fail. I took courses in Physical theory and Physical Training besides helping other people I’ve been helping myself.
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| Cipriano's Story |
| Cipriano received a one year gym membership from the foundation. |
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My name is Cipriano; I came here from Mexico City, Mexico. In 1991 I was told I had diabetes and high blood pressure. Now I also have trouble with my eyes, some days I can see better than others, I am also a kidney dialysis patient and do hemodialysis three days a week.
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| Joan's
Story |
| Joan
received a 1 year Gym membership from the foundation. |
Joan shared with us
she would like to loose weight for a transplant.
And her athletic interests are riding bike, walking
on treadmills and weight training.
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| John's
Story |
| John
received a 1 year Gym membership from the foundation. |
My name is John;
I am a 63 year old. I have been on hemodialysis
for three years, as of March 2007. My journey into
renal failure began about a year and a half prior
to beginning dialysis. I had a ruptured bowel, with
peritonitis. That began a downward spiral of infections
and eventually permanent renal failure. I am currently
on the renal transplant list in Illinois, and will
soon be on the list in Indiana.
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| Linda's
Story |
| Linda
received a 1 year gym membership and some personal
training sessions from the foundation. |
 My
name is Linda and I am 60 years old. I am 5ft.
tall and weigh 273 lbs. This is my personal story.
I weighed 100 lbs. in the first grade. I have been
heavy my whole life. My weight has never bothered
me all of these years. I have always made it a point
to be able to do what everyone else can do. I ran,
played ball….. I made it a point to always
exercise. I was very social in high school. I always
went on dates, to dances, homecoming and other social
events in high school. After school, I worked in
3 nursing homes as a nurse aide. I got married in
1972, weighing 183 lbs. One year into my marriage
I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy.
Six months after the surgery my weight started to
climb, I gained 100 lbs. Once this weight was on,
I have never been able to get it off. Through all
of this, my husband and I still adopted a baby girl
named Michelle and later adopted another baby girl,
Mary. I was a stay at home mother, often taking
the girls to the park, zoo and riding bikes with
them. However, my weight still kept going up I weighed
290lbs. when I was staying at home with the girls.
I then had more surgeries on my hand for carpal
tunnel syndrome, but my weight still climbed the
scale. I tried everything, from diet pills to diet
drinks. I was able to lose 75lbs., but it all came
back through time. In fact my health took a turn
for the worse, as I developed breathing problems,
where I had been placed on oxygen. But with all
of this, it made it hard to keep up with my girls
and to keep up on the day to day activities of life.
In fact one day, I fell asleep at the wheel, thankfully,
my daughter Mary was able to grab the wheel, so
no one was hurt. At this point, I was diagnosed
with Sleep Apnea. I was given a c-pap machine to
help with continuing airflow, but it was difficult
for me to wear the machine. The sleep Apnea developed
because of my weight gain. My sleep apnea was so
bad, that I was not going out anymore driving, because
of the possibility of me falling asleep. My husband
would work evenings, so he could be at home to help
during the day, when he would come home he would
try to wake me up, but I would never wake up. The
next morning, one of my daughters tried to wake
me up but they too had no response from me. She
kept trying to wake me, but them she went to get
my husband and he too tried to wake me up again.
He received no response as well. They quickly called
911, when the paramedics tried to wake me, they
were unsuccessful as well. I was rushed to the hospital
were they tried to resuscitate me several times.
Many times, my heart would stop beating, but then
I would be brought back. I was rushed in to immediate
surgery and had a tube placed in my throat to help
me breathe. My family was told that I would not
make it long, that I only had a few hours to live.
I was in bad shape. I had my minister and church
family come to the hospital to pray for me. I was
moved to intensive care where I was for a week.
I was on a lot of machines that help me breathe.
It was very difficult for me to breathe with out
the machines; therefore I was place back in the
ICU for another week, while still placed on the
breathing machines. Because of all of these health
problems I have had with my lungs and breathing,
my kidneys became damaged and I had to begin dialysis.
So now my focus is to loose weight and to gain some
of my life back. My family does almost everything
for me like cooking, cleaning, etc…. but I
would like to do these things again. I am still
wearing oxygen. My goal is to loose the weight and
have an opportunity to have a transplant. I would
like to gain back my life and I know that if I incorporate
exercise back into my life, I will not only feel
better now, but it will help with my dialysis and
it will help get me closer to my goal of a transplant.
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| Richard's
Story |
| Richard
will receive a block of personal training sessions
from the foundation. |
I was in a auto accident
when I was 4 years old and suffered a spinal injury.
That was in 1964. Part of one kidney was removed
in order to reduce my blood pressure. Eventually
I had to start hemo dialysis in 1994. I have been
on dialysis since then. I have a 2 year degree in
Business Administration and Accounting. I worked
as a corporate accountant/Accounting Supervisor/Accounting
Manager for a number of years. Currently I am unemployed
and not looking for work. The social worker at the
Elkhart Nephrology Inc facility encouraged me to
apply.
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| Aaron's
Story |
| (gym membership, personal trainer) |
 I’ve
had End Stage Renal Disease since I was four and
had one kidney transplant in 1990 that lasted 11
years. I’ve been on dialysis for four years
now and am waiting for another kidney transplant.
My wife Tabitha and I have been married 9 years
this past June, and she has been right beside me
everyday. I draw inspiration from were I can and
Shad Ireland has inspired me to do more. I recently
started  school
this January and plan to get my Bachelors degree
and even go on to get my Masters degree. Kidney
dialysis doesn’t define who I am. I believe
that I am more than a dialysis patient. It took
me four years to realize that I’m sick; and
not dieing and I can accomplish what I want. Shad
Ireland has made me realize that I too can reach
my goals.
Its individuals like Shad Ireland that are breaking
the stereotypical mold of dialysis patients and
inspiring others to deal, accept, and live.
Aaron
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| Rick's
Story |
| (gym membership, personal trainer) |
|  I
am a 52 year old Electrical Engineer who was diagnosed
with Global Focal Glomerularsclerosis in May 2002.
At that time I weighed 340 pounds. When my kidneys
failed on Janualry 2, 2005 my weight had ballooned
to 420 pounds. After I left the hospital, ten
days later, my weight was down to 365. I have
since lost an additional 45 pounds, needing to
lose another 50 to get to my transplant weight
of 270 pounds.
Since I started working out at the YMCA, with
the personal trainer that your foundation provided
for, I have been walking 0.7 of a mile on the
treadmill, and using the weight machines to exercise.
I have discovered a new found energy and stamina
that I didn't have before, and I hope to be at
my transplant weight by this spring.
Again, thanks for all the help in getting the
personal trainer and in arranging for a treadmill.
The picture is at Christmas with our Great Dane,
Lady.
Rick T
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| Joyce's
Story |
| (gym membership, personal trainer) |
| In September
1998, after waging a six-year battle to keep my
kidneys, I went on dialysis. The first thing I
ask about was getting a transplant. I was told
I would have to be in good health (other than
the dialysis) and to loose weight. I needed to
be down to at least 200 pounds just to get on
a transplant list and then would have to continue
loosing to stay on the list and I was tired all
the time. I weighted at the time 255 pounds. I
tried cutting down on eating but list very little.
I finally started gong to a gym and got some training
in exercise and nutrition. Soon I had more energy
and started loosing very slowly. It tool me two
years to get down to 200 pounds and got on a list.
I got a transplant a year and a half after getting
on a list. I eased up on my exercise after the
transplant and with the anti rejection drugs I
started putting on the weight again, A year later
my transplant rejected and by then I weighed 274
pounds. I was tired all the time again and anemic.
I had also shrunk one inch in my height. Now to
get back on the transplant list I needed to reach
186 pounds. Many told me that loosing that much
weight would be an impossible task. I still felt
my health is important and had to try. I am no
longer able to work so I could not afford to do
to a gym. I started to go for long walks and worked
on my nutrition again. I lost a little but not
much. I finally got an exercise machine for home.
When I started on the machine I could only do
5 to 10 minutes at a time. My hips hurt with arthritis
and my feet hurt from the diabetes. I had to exercise
several times a day every day in order to loose
any weight. I have been working almost two years
now to loose weight. I have six pounds to go to
be able to get back on the transplant list.
My health is better. My hips do not hurt anymore
as long as I continue to exercise. My feet have
very little pain and I have a lot more energy.
Loosing weight and all the exercise has not been
easy. It is difficult sometimes to make time every
day to work out. To keep on loosing I have had
to put on one and half to two hours a day. I have
to continue to watch my nutrition. All the hard
work has been worth it because I feel so much
better. I still plan on trying to get a transplant
but this time I will continue to work just as
hard to keep in shape after a transplant as I
did to loose the weight. I believe constant exercise
and proper nutrition will give me better chance
of keeping a transplant and just feeling better.
I love my life and want to live a long time.
Joyce
Age 56
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| Terrance's
Story |
| (gym membership, personal trainer) |
| More Coming soon...
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| Angie's
Story |
| |
 My
name is Angie. I have been on dialysis for
19yrs as of November 1, 2005. I also have been through
2 failed attempts of kidney transplants. Here’s
how it all began, It all started at the age of 4
when the doctors found I had refluxing and the tubes
to my bladder were malformed. I had to wear an Iliostomy
bags for 10yrs. Now at 14yrs after several tests
of seeing how much my bladder would hold the bags
came off. I finally was a “normal teenager”
until one day at the doctor’s office at the
age of 16yrs; he talked to me one on one and told
me I would have to be on dialysis. I just stood
there with no reaction; I guess he was expecting
me to break down or fly off the handle or something.
He told me to let it out if I was upset or mad.
I just looked at him and said. “I knew it
would come sooner or later.” At 17 I started
dialysis. I’ve had several accesses (fistulas)
to run on dialysis. 2-3 in the left leg, 2-3 in
right leg, 1 in my chest, 1 in my left arm, 1 in
the lower part of my right arm. I’m currently
using my own veins in the upper part of my right
arm. Present day I‘ve had 70+ surgeries including
a full hysterectomy at age 20. I’ve through
menopause and every thing. I guess everything that
has happened; I still have a positive attitude.
The doctors diagnosed me to die at age 16. What
does that tell ya? That tells me that the big man
upstairs isn’t finished with me yet. I’ve
realized that I was put here to serve a purpose.
My goal in life is to teach other about dialysis
and not to let it get you down in the dumps. Remember
there’s always someone worse off than you.
Don’t take life for granted.
Angie
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| Bill's
Story |
| |
 My
name is Bill I am a father of three wonderful
children. !2 years ago I was told I have a kidney
disease called Glumero Nephritis with chronic hypertension.
Thus on January 31, 2005 I was diagnosis with ESRD
End Stage Renal Failure. I was given on what options
were available to me and I decided to proceed with
Dialysis and I chose Peritoneal or CAPD and also
began the process for a kidney transplant. This
unfortunate event was compounded by the fact at
the time of my diagnosis I had just started a new
job and was uninsured because I had not completed
my 90 days probationary period.
So with this to slow me down I continued my life
much changed, but continued with little patient
and much diligence. I got everything in line to
start the process of testing for a kidney transplant.
Lucky I am the second youngest of seven children
and three of my sister and brothers are able to
participate in the testing process.
In the initial testing it was determined that my
brother and younger sister were the best candidates
for the procedure and of the two my brother was
in the position to continue with my sister as the
“Back up” just in case.
While the testing was going on with my brother I
continued on with CAPD. I ended up with Peritonitis,
which is a painful infection in the peritoneal cavity.
As a result of the infection I had to stop CAPD
and start Hemodialsyis, with the insertion of a
permcath in my chest. This was only to be temporary,
because I was headed towards the transplant.
Surgery was scheduled and we worked towards the
culmination of this story, until the floor fell
out and my brother was told he could not continue
due to his own health issues. So we decided he needed
to take care of himself and we will work on “Plan
B” But with this postponement of the transplant
I am due to get a fistula and continue with hemodialysis
until we can get started on “ Plan B”
for a transplant.
When I found out about the possibility of getting
some help on getting a membership to the YMCA.I
was very interested and excited I have always been
an active person playing soft ball in the summer
and basketball in the winter and swimming until
this past winter when all this happened. I feel
like I could get back into all the activities I
used to do if I could get back into shape and get
motivated and I know a membership to the YMCA would
really help. I have been told that exercise helps
with depression and I really need help with that.
I would like to thank the all the people and medical
professionals that have helped me this past year
and my family and friends for there love and support.and
last but not least my three kids for being the reason
for me to get up every morning.
Also you Shad for being an inspiration to all of
us in this position of being on dialysis and showing
fitness can help.
Thank you Bill
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| john's
Story |
| |
 My
name is John J, I am 63 y/o. I have been on hemodialysis
for 3 years, as of March 2007. My journey into renal
failure began about a year and a half priour to
beginning dialysis. I had a ruptured bowel, with
peritonitis. That began a downward spiral of infections
and eventually permament renial failure. I am curently
on the renal transplant list in Illinois, and will
soon be on the list in Indiana. |
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