Dialysis patients can be fit: Group

[okarol]

Dialysis patients can be fit: Group
  TRACEY TONG/METRO OTTAWA

Marie-Eve Chainey, with Shad Ireland on video conference in the background, ran her first-ever 5K race last fall. “Exercise has given my life a second chance,” she said.
TRACEY TONG
METRO OTTAWA
July 27, 2010 5:07 a.m.

When she was 18, doctors told Marie-Eve Chainey that her kidneys had failed.

“That was the last day I lived without dialysis,” remembered the uOttawa student. The diagnosis was a shock for the competitive high jumper.

“Dialysis is very exhausting for the body,” she said. “I lost a lot of my strength and I was very weak. Dialysis is hard.”

She got a fitness grant through the Shad Ireland Foundation, which helps people with kidney disease get active again.

Eight years later, Chainey is now the Canadian co-director of the Shad Ireland Foundation, which launched its first-ever event in Canada yesterday.

The Simply Fit Family Friendly 1K and Competitive 5 and 10K, to be held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on Aug. 15, is a fundraiser and a way to raise awareness for kidney disease, said Chainey.

Himself a dialysis patient for 28 years, Shad Ireland attended the conference by video.

“I found that exercise and nutrition is a great model for stabilizing and rehabilitating people with this disease,” said Ireland, who is the world’s first dialysis patient to complete an Ironman competition.

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/587544--dialysis-patients-can-be-fit-group

[RichardMEL]

Wow 28 years on dialysis.

I think that's a  great idea, and important to have levels of participation eg: 1K, 5K and 10K that everyone can do.

 

[Stacy Without An E]

For anyone on Dialysis, the thought of exercise is exhausting.  But I've found the benefits to be overwhelmingly positive.

On days I don't feel like I have energy to go to the gym and do my full workout, I go for a 45 minute walk in my neighborhood.  But it is a struggle.  On nights I don't have Dialysis, I go home and lie down.  Sometimes I fall asleep for about an hour.  Then I go to the gym.

I really notice the benefits when I go through my sick period, don't exercise for four or five days.  Every muscle starts to throb and it hurts to walk across a room.  Dialysis will tear down your body if you allow it.

I hope everyone on Dialysis does at least a minimum amount of exercise per day.  Your body will thank you in kind.

[RichardMEL]

Totally agree about this. I try to walk every day and keep to a routine (I have a long walk every Sunday) and it really works well for me I think. OK I am no gym junkie, but I know even the little bit I do helps me no end. It's also good motivation to get out of the house and do something positive for myself.

[KarenInWA]

But Richard, just think of all the wonderful eye candy you're missing out on at the gym! And what that could do for your fluid levels (since you'd most likely be sweating from watching all the gorgeous ladies....)

[Zach]

I try to go to the gym and do various exercises for about 90 minutes, 3 x week.
I lose enough fluid to drink an extra litre of iced tea ...
...or beer!