SALISBURY -- The National Kidney Foundation of Maryland will hold its sixth annual Salisbury Kidney Walk at WinterPlace Park in Salisbury on Sunday.

More than 1,200 people in Maryland are currently on dialysis, and the funds raised through the event will directly support NKF-MD's patient services, education and research efforts.

Stephanie Elliott, a dialysis nurse of 15 years, manager of the acute dialysis unit at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center and a certified nephrology nurse, was instrumental in organizing the first walk six years ago.

"My interest is for the patients that are under my care, patients who have been under my care in the past and for those whom I will serve in the future," she said.

Elliott has also co-chaired the event every year.

Last year, NKF-MD events in the state drew thousands of participants and raised more than $275,000.

Princess Anne native Thomas Beckett began hemodialysis in 2011 and immediately formed a walk team.

"I got involved because of my kidney failure and my mother's as well," said Beckett, whose mother is on peritoneal dialysis. "It's so prevalent. So many people I know have this issue, and I never knew it. It's more common than people realize."

Organizers are expecting about 400 people to participate. There is no registration fee, although anyone who raises more than $100 will receive a Kidney Walk t-shirt. Those people don't wish to walk may also sponsor another participant.

"This cause is essential because Chronic Kidney Disease is very under-diagnosed and misunderstood, but is on the rise and projected to only become worse," Elliott said. "Caught in time, the progression of kidney disease may be slowed or even halted with the proper care. This is why it is so very important to be followed by a doctor --preferably a kidney doctor (nephrologist) in the early stages of the disease. If CKD goes undetected or untreated, the disease may progress to End Stage Renal Disease and require dialysis and/or transplantation. The research and education that are possible through the Kidney Foundation only promise to improve the lives of CKD/ESRD patients, which makes this walk a very worthwhile cause."

Registration starts at 9 a.m., with the walk beginning at 10 a.m. Warm-up exercises and announcements will be hosted by WMDT-TV news anchors Ashley James and Terrence Lee. Pets are welcome, and both a three mile and a shorter walk will be offered.

Moonbeam Entertainment will provide live music and Home Depot is sponsoring a children's crafts area. Additionally, Panera Bread will provide bagels, Food Lion will offer up assorted snacks, and water and juice will be donated by Pepsi and Wawa.

"I want people to understand kidney disease is not a death sentence," Beckett said. "It does require planning and readjusting your everyday life. I want people to be more informed that people with the disease need a lot of support, and that family can be a great help. Also, donating a kidney would help out a lot of folks -- it's not a death sentence for donors either."

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Published on Monday 30 April 2012 09:06

A LONG-suffering Eastbourne man whose kidney problems mean he can drink less than a pint of fluid every day has taken to Facebook to try and find an organ donor.

Nathanael Adams was born with dysplastic kidneys and had to be fed through a tube directly into his stomach until the age of three when he received his first transplant.

And, apart from a few teething problems and regular trips to a London hospital for treatment, his childhood was as normal as anyone could expect.

He played football, went to parties, had a healthy appetite and was no different to any of his friends growing up at the same time.

As he got older his kidney kept doing its job and the 29-year-old even became a water sports instructor, always keen to live life to the full.

However, as he explained to the Herald this week, the relative calm did not last.

“I was able to do everything that normal children like doing,” he said. “Then, in the later stages of my kidney’s life I spent many a happy summer teaching others what I enjoyed doing. Windsurfing and sailing were my passions back then and I did all that living with just one kidney. “Unfortunately thought the day I had been dreading came in August 2003. After almost 17 years with my transplanted kidney I was told by doctors that I would have to start dialysis, and be placed on the transplant waiting list for another kidney, as my transplant was starting to fail.

“I’m not ashamed to say that I did a lot of crying back then. I had taken it for granted that it would last me a lifetime, and had tried to ignore the doctors who had said I’d probably need another kidney.”

Mr Adams quickly had to face up to the prospect of what could be a lengthy wait for a suitable donor. It would be fair to say though that he never expected to be still on the look-out almost a decade later.

Seven years on from finding out he needed a second procedure, Mr Adams faces the grind of having to undergo the most aggressive form of dialysis – one which brings with it severe restrictions on his diet.

He can only have 500mls of fluid in 24 hours and as he says, “There seem to be more things that you are not allowed to eat, than the things that you can.”

Family have been screened but no match found, leaving Mr Adams counting not just the physical cost of waiting for a transplant but also suffering the emotional toil.

“It can be hard sometimes,” he said. “I’ve no idea whether I’ll get that call for a transplant again. It all depends on people being signed up to the organ donor register to donate their organs after death, or else deciding that they’d like to donate one of their kidney’s, in order to help someone else.

“The waiting is very hard – not just on me but those close to me. That was why my friend Jo Bastable set up the Facebook group [www.facebook.com/HelpNathanaelFindAKidney] because she wanted to do all she could to help.

“I am realistic, I know it may not find my a kidney but if it raises awareness and means more people sign up as organ donors and it means other people do not have to go through what I am that is great,

“I am amazed by the people who donate their organs, be it while they’re alive, or after death. If it weren’t for them, I would not be here today.

“To get another kidney would change my life dramatically. I would no longer have to go to hospital three times a week for dialysis, I’d be able to find myself a job and generally enjoy all that life has to offer again.”

For more information on how to register as a donor visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or speak to your GP.

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Jo Bastable

Fantastic write up, thanks Richard! Please come and see the Facebook page for more information or look at the NHSBT website about living donors. There are too many people out there in Nathanael's situation who desperately need people to come forward. (P.S Think there may be a word missing from the headline? )

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