Back to My Life

In Their Words
Back to My Life
Marvin Burney

Marvin Burney is a home hemodialysis patient at DaVita Southeastern Dialysis Center, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Article Text

I started my walk down Dialysis Road almost 13 years ago. When end-stage renal disease grabbed me I was young, busy, and relatively

I went back to my in-center clinic to visit, and something hit me: I don't belong there now because I'm not that sick anymore.

healthy - but all of that soon changed. After just a few months on in-center hemodialysis, I looked, felt, and moved around like an old, old man - I was only 39 at the time! My life had been very busy working full-time and spending an additional 25-30 hours a week volunteering as a youth baseball, football and basketball coach. But all of that soon stopped because my new life revolved around dialysis, and after treatments I didn't have the strength to work or coach anymore.

I trained for peritoneal dialysis thinking that would be better, but two kinked catheters and one awful case of peritonitis made me give up on that idea. But, I told myself, at least the hemodialysis treatments won't last long before I get a transplant. Twelve and a half years passed without a transplant, and my walk on Dialysis Road got pretty bumpy. Then I heard about home hemodialysis from the folks at DaVita and decided to try it. That was the best thing I've ever done!

Home hemodialysis has allowed me to reclaim my life. This is now my body, my disease, my treatment and my life - I'm in charge. That's a feeling I haven't had in 13 years, and boy, is it a terrific feeling! Thanks to the training and guidance provided by the staff at DaVita, I am no longer that passive body who used to plop down in the chair, stick out my arm, and wait for a nurse to come and give me my treatments; I am now an active participant, and I love it! I am now responsible for giving me the best care possible - although my wife does help out.

Home hemodialysis has also made me young again. I used to need a wheelchair when going somewhere that required a lot of walking, but no more. Now, if the wheelchair goes with me, I'm behind it doing the pushing for someone else who needs a ride, because I don't anymore. Now that I'm the pusher instead of the pushee, I could push a 300-pound person up a steep hill if I had to - okay, maybe I exaggerated on that one, let's make it a 275-pound person.

After finishing my home hemodialysis training at DaVita, I decided to coach a fall youth-baseball team, something I haven't done in years. The last year I coached while I was on in-center dialysis, I had to do all of my coaching from a golf cart because I couldn't walk to the field or walk around during practice. On home hemodialysis, I was able to get out on the field with the boys and lead them in warm-up exercises; I walked for two hours and only stopped to demonstrate fielding and batting techniques - I wasn't even tired! I've been asked to coach a church youth-basketball team next, and I'm seriously thinking about doing it.

I went back to my in-center clinic to visit, and something hit me: I don't belong there now because I'm not that sick anymore. My whole life used to revolve around dialysis, but now dialysis is just another part of my everyday life. The only mistake I made with home hemodialysis is that I didn't start 13 years ago.

Yes, it's true - dialysis still keeps me alive. But now that home hemodialysis keeps me alive, it also lets me be young, busy and healthy again, and that makes all the difference!

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