About living kidney donation
Dialysis is imminent
My kidneys are already at less than 15% of their normal functioning. This is called “Stage 5” kidney disease, often referred to as “kidney failure.” My current kidney functioning is at the cliff’s edge of being placed on dialysis. I take numerous medications that help compensate for the various deficits in functioning already afflicting my kidneys. The main function is to make urine that removes waste and excess water. Without that, waste builds up and becomes lethal. I will require dialysis when my kidneys are no longer able to clear enough waste to keep me alive.
Once on dialysis, I will be placed on a waiting list for a kidney from a deceased donor. The wait period ranges from 3 to 10 years. Every year, 3 people out of 100 on dialysis die waiting for a transplant. Though there are a variety of ways that dialysis is performed, it is always a time consuming and life-altering process. It is a geographical tether that would limit travel. And, of course, dialysis significantly shortens life expectancy.
Why a living donation
With a kidney transplant from a living donor, it is possible I could avoid the process of dialysis altogether. A surgery could be scheduled as soon as the viability of a matching potential donor is determined. In contrast to a kidney from a deceased donor, a living kidney transplant generally starts working as soon as the operation is completed. Most importantly, kidneys from living donors last longer. On average, deceased donor transplants survive 12 years while transplants from living donors last 19 years, with many lasting upwards of 30 years.
My AB+ blood type makes me a near-universal donor recipient. This greatly increases the likelihood that I would be a match with those who would be interested in being a donor. (I was surprised to find out that blood relatives are not more likely than anyone else to be a donor match). A person’s health will generally be the primary determinant of their viability to be a donor.
I am hopeful that my life could go on as usual. This is what living donation would do for me. I could continue to help my clients through their mental health needs and earn a living while doing it; Lisa and I could live out our dreams of travelling the world; I could continue to take Juniper to the dog park every morning where she plays with her friends and I chat with mine; I could go on long bicycle rides and continue to feel right in my own body. A kidney transplant would allow me to live a life as if I never had kidney disease in the first place. A donation would be, as they say, a gift of life.
My Lance Armstrong Irony
In 2013, famed cyclist Lance Armstrong finally confessed his use of banned performance-enhancing drugs. His record-setting seven wins of The Tour de France were erased from the record. His “miracle” story of surviving testicular cancer to become one of the greatest athletes ever to live was discarded as one of the most shameful episodes of professional sport. In one of the great ironies of my life, I now find myself reliant on the same medication Armstrong used to cheat his way into his cycling victories.
I may never ride The Tour de France, but cycling has been essential to my well-being for many years. In many ways it saved my life. My love for cycling was vital to my transformation from a 300-plus pounds chain smoker to a moderately over-weight athlete who loves few things more in life than waking up early on a weekend to pound out some kilometers on two pedals.
My performance started to decline about three seasons ago, before I knew the extent of my kidney disease. A nephrologist quickly identified the low-oxygen levels in my blood. One of the main functions of the kidneys is to produce erythropoietin, a hormone essential to the process of making red blood cells. Eprex is an artificial version of that hormone. My cycling performance has improved since starting with the medication. But, as it’s dangerous to take Eprex at the levels The Tour riders were, the medication can only take me so far. I will continue to ride with a blood-oxygen deficit for the rest of my life without a kidney transplant, For all the numerous reasons I would want a kidney transplant, the fact that it would resolve my blood-oxygen problem might be top of the list.