LETTER: Family hopes for help for son in renal failure

LETTER: Family hopes for help for son in renal failure

By Rhodes family
Newton Kansan
Posted Mar 13, 2009 @ 11:19 AM

NEWTON —

We would like to share our blessings with you by saying our son has started the workup process as a prospective live kidney transplant recipient with possibilities of a later pancreas transplant.

These precious gifts give new hope and are a miracle for a new life.

With this in mind, the Via Christi transplant team encouraged us to inform family and friends about the need for a “live” kidney donor. We were not sure just how to go about doing this because it’s such a personal and loving decision.

So, we decided to share a few facts and ask that you continue to help us through your prayers and by sharing this information with others.

At 32, our son Wes and father of two little girls has been struggling with severe Type I diabetic complications resulting in acute renal failure and, in November, started dialysis.

Even though he feels better after treatments, it physically drains him.

Compared to a real kidney, dialysis functions at 10 percent leaving the other 90 percent body needs unattended. Also, dialysis process causes hardening of the arteries and blood vessels.

National statistics show a young person with our son’s history has between six and 10 years of life as a dialysis patient. So it is imperative he is taken off dialysis as soon as possible. But this can only happen through a kidney donor transplant.

National statistics show a live kidney donor gift would give him 25 or 30 years of life, whereas a deceased kidney donor only gives him between 15 and 20 years of life.

In closing, we would like to share a statement taken from “The Living Gift” booklet.

Giving a kidney to a family member, friend or stranger can be one of life’s greatest experiences.

For many, this gift has meant restored health for the person receiving the transplant and closer ties among everyone involved.

The decision to donate a kidney is an important one.

“Giving Your Kidney is truly a Miracle and a Blessing.”

For more information about the Transplant Institute at Via Christi Regional Medical Center, please call (316) 268-5890 or e-mail to www.via-christi.org/transplant.

— Sincerely,

The Rhodes family,

Newton

http://www.thekansan.com/opinions/x1331526206/LETTER-Family-hopes-for-help-for-son-in-renal-failure