Ontario man recognized as Canadian living longest with dialysis

Ken Sharp honoured for his long dialysis crusade
MEDICAL: Canada's longest living dialysis patient
Posted By ANDREA HOUSTON , EXAMINER STAFF WRITER
Posted 1 day ago

Beaming with pride, Ken Sharp's eyes sparkled as he held his grand half-moon-shaped glass award that he received on Saturday for being Canada's longest living dialysis patient.

But the honour remains bittersweet for Sharp, he said, because his long crusade to bring the bioartificial kidney technology to Canada is far from finished.

"This is the finest award I've ever received," he said

The local champion for dialysis funding and advancement was the first ever recipient of the Gerd Krick Achievement Award at a ceremony at Fresenius Medical Care Canada's headquarters in Richmond Hill Saturday morning.

"It was quite a ceremony," Sharp said. "I think this has been my life's calling.

"When I was 20 years old I had a transplant. And a lot of people think a transplant is a cure. It's not a cure."

The idea for Sharp's award came to Ben Lipps, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, a $10-billion international company, after reading an Examiner article about Sharp's longevity.

That longevity was made possible, Fresenius officials believe, because his treatment allowed him to remain close to home in his community.

Company officials are also crediting Sharp's feat with his enduring spirit for life, which includes singing and playing guitar in a local band.

Several dignitaries, including Lipps, made the journey from the company's headquarters in Germany to shake Sharp's hand, he said.

Also at the ceremony was Sharp's physician Dr. Andrew Steele, Dr. Paul Tam from Peterborough's Dialysis Management Clinic as well as the clinic's owners, Sharp said.

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At the award ceremony Sharp also got plaques from MP Dean Del Mastro, MPP Jeff Leal and the MP of Richmond Hill Bryon Wilfert.

Sharp, a 52-year-old King Street resident who grew up in Peterborough and attended Crestwood Secondary School, has chronic kidney failure and has survived dialysis for nearly 33 years.

Since he was a young man in 1976, Sharp has endured dialysis -- a process of getting hooked up to a machine that removes your blood and cleans it before putting it back in the body.

Sharp has this done three times per week, four hours at a time, at the Dialysis Management Clinic on High Street.

No one from the clinic as available for comment on Saturday.

"Ken's longevity on dialysis is a remarkable achievement and we have to consider his history of home and community-based therapy as a possible factor," Dr. Ted Toffelmire a Canadian nephrologist, said at the ceremony.

Sharp is a well-known proponent of U. S. research into a bioartificial kidney -a device made of artificial tubes as well as human kidney cells.

He has spent more than a decade trying to raise awareness about kidney disease and pushing for Canadian-funded research into new technology that would greatly ease the suffering of dialysis patients.

Dr. David Humes, at the University of Michigan, is developing the device that is meant to replace a functioning kidney.

The first human trial was conducted in March 2001 and the U. S. research continues. Humes' research team has told Sharp a clinical trial is now underway in China.

A related device -a wearable kidney that performs natural functions unachievable through man-made technology -can be developed in the near future to treat chronic renal failure, Sharp said.

The wearable kidney is worn on a belt around the waist and provides continuous dialysis treatment.

"I'd say we are five years away from a wearable kidney," Sharp said. "With a wearable kidney, I wouldn't have to sit in a chair for four hours anymore.

"After that, it's my dream to see the bioartificial kidney with no drugs and no rejection. That would totally replace dialysis.

"So my fight continues."

Normally patients on dialysis on average only live about 10 years, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

People on dialysis often get discouraged, depressed and negative, Sharp said, because the process is time-consuming and can cause painful cramps.

For patients like Sharp, making the trip to the hospital for dialysis is also a constant reminder of their chronic illness.

NOTES: Fresenius Medical Care is the world's largest integrated provider of products and services for individuals undergoing dialysis because of chronic kidney failure, a condition that affects more than 1,770,000 individuals worldwide, according to their website.... Last year, a few employees from Fresenius Medical Care raised money for the Shad Ireland Canadian Foundation by participating in a triathlon. The charity was formed in both Canada and the U. S. to provide fitness grants for dialysis patients in honour of the first dialysis patient to complete the Iron Man Triathlon. This year, 23 employees will compete in a triathlon with a goal of raising over $90,000 in support of Canadian renal patients like Ken Sharp, the news release states.

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