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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on May 02, 2007, 08:14:16 AM
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Gift of life: Thanks given for donor kidney: Principal takes turn teaching
by: NORA FROESCHLE World Staff Writer
5/2/2007
Bob Coke marks Organ Donation Awareness Day by telling students his own story.
OWASSO -- After waiting on a kidney donation list for a year and a half, Bob Coke found out on Thanksgiving Day that he would be receiving a donor organ.
"It's kind of freaky," he said of the timing.
Coke, the principal at Owasso's Seventh Grade Center, shared his experience with Polycystic Kidney Disease and his November transplant operation with science classes Tuesday during the school's Organ Donation Awareness Day.
Representatives from the PKD Foundation for Research in Polycystic Kidney Disease also attended the event, which was designed to raise awareness about kidney disease and the need for organ donation.
Coke told the students that the first indication that he had the disease was high blood pressure, with which he was diagnosed at age 30.
He always knew he might have PKD because the disease is inherited and his mother died of it in 1973 at age 62.
"She never had a chance for a transplant; she never had a chance for dialysis," he said.
Coke, 56, one of six children, is the only one who inherited the disease, which eventually causes the kidneys to fail.
Once kidney failure occurs, a transplant or dialysis are the only options.
Coke showed the students his left arm's fistula, an artery and a vein sewn together to create better access for dialysis.
The gathering let out a collective gasp.
"That's what it's supposed to do; it's supposed to get big," Coke assured them.
As he talked about going to dialysis three days a week for four hours at a time, he described the other people with kidney problems who also were receiving dialysis through St. Francis Health System.
A boy who was 12 sat next to him; a man with his legs amputated was across the room.
After going for treatments for about five months, Coke got the news on Thanksgiving Day that a kidney was available.
"Something tragic happened to somebody Thanksgiving weekend," he said.
A woman who received another kidney from the same cadaver donor on the same day did not survive, Coke said.
"You wonder why yours goes well and someone else's doesn't," he said.
Coke returned to school after spring break, roughly three months after his surgery. He is doing well, but he has to maintain a certain vigilance to stay that way.
"I'm going to keep on truckin' and take my medication," he said during his session with one class.
He also must be careful about his exposure to illnesses, and -- strangely enough -- cat litter.
"I don't have to clean the litter box -- those are doctor's orders," Coke said.
He answered questions after one presentation, and a boy with a story similar to his raised his hand.
"My grandfather had PKD, and he got a transplant a couple of years ago," Joseph O'Quinn said.
The boy said he had not known about Coke's condition until Tuesday's program.
Coke said he shared his story in part to raise awareness for the need for organ donation.
"I think it's one of the greatest gifts you can give a person," he said.
Leigh Reynolds, who came from the PKD Foundation's Kansas City, Mo., office, gave a short presentation to each class before Coke's address in the school's media center.
Reynolds told the group that 12.5 million people worldwide have PKD.
"It's very common, but most people haven't heard of it," she said.
She ended by asking for a show of hands on how many of the students planned to walk in the 2007 Walk for PKD in September.
All of the students raised their hands.
Nora Froeschle 581-8310
nora.froeschle@tulsaworld.com
Polycystic Kidney Disease
Polycystic Kidney Disease is a genetic, life-threatening disease that affects more than 600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide, regardless of gender, age, race or ethnic origin. It has no cure.
In effect, PKD denotes multiple cysts on each kidney. These cysts grow and multiply over time, also causing the mass of the kidney to increase.
Ultimately, the diseased kidney shuts down, causing end-stage renal disease, for which dialysis and transplantation are the only forms of treatment.
PKD comes in two forms. Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease is the most common, affecting about 1 in 500 adults. Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease is less common, affecting 1 in 10,000 at a far younger age, including newborns, infants and children.
Source: PKD Foundation for Research in Polycystic Kidney Disease
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