Home Sweet Home

[okarol]

Publish Date: 7/23/2011

Home Sweet Home
Kelly home after extended treatment in Texas

Karen Lungu
klungu@ccdailyrecord.com

It’s that time of year; vacationers are packed and on the road, enjoying novel sights and exploring new places, but one local woman is enjoying a brief 10-day holiday here at home in Cañon City, after spending the past seven months in Texas, following a kidney transplant.

Becky Kelly credits her longtime friend Shellen Rhoden for giving her the gift of life the week before Christmas. Kelly was not able to thank Rhoden, who designated her kidneys to Kelly shortly before she died of ALS. Kelly was en route to Houston as Rhoden died, surrounded by family and listening to her favorite Barbara Streisand music.

Though Kelly continues to battle the Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome that attacked her first kidneys, she feels she is the strongest she has been since the beginning of her ordeal, a little more than two years ago. HUS is a disorder that generally occurs when an infection in the digestive system produces toxic substances that destroy red blood cells, causing injury to the kidneys. Kelly’s Houston kidney doctor believes her HUS is genetic, though no one else in her family is known to suffer from the syndrome.

Kelly moved in with her dad and stepmom in Brenham, Texas, following her transplant in December 2010. She continued to lose weight after her surgery and struggled with anti-rejection medications.

By February 2011, she was down to 80 pounds, her creatine levels were creeping up, and the HUS was attacking her new kidneys. She now has minimal use of her donated kidneys and is again receiving dialysis three days a week. She entered a study on Feb. 25, and began a regimen with an experimental drug, which she hopes eventually will fight the HUS.

“My labs showed my kidneys weren’t at 100 percent,” Kelly said. “By Feb. 25, my labs started showing I fit the protocol for the experimental drug.”

Because she was accepted into the study, the drug company donates the experimental drug. She goes to Houston every other week for a 30-minute IV of the trial medication. She’s happy she’s had no side effects. She also attributes the drug to clearing the blotching of her skin that occurred after her kidneys began failing.

She’s been on the drug for several months. The only other woman in the same drug study in Texas saw results after five months. At almost four months in the study, Kelly remains hopeful, and she’s doing things to put health on her side. In the best of all worlds, she hopes the drug gains enough momentum that her kidneys begin to function more fully.

Barring that, Kelly hopes the drug will force her HUS into remission, possibly making her a candidate for another transplant.

Kelly recently gained around 30 pounds, enjoys regular exercise and yoga routines and is eating healthier. She laughed when she said that over all these, the most important restoration is that of her independence. To acclimate, she recently began driving her father’s truck around his ranch in Brenham, Texas. She now drives herself to her own dialysis appointments. She initiated a yoga class in Brenham.

A couple days after returning home, Kelly had the tip of a finger amputated because of poor circulations problems in one arm. The day after the surgery, Kelly padded around her kitchen, refusing help as she made a sandwich and cut some fruit. She is determined, she said, to maintain her independence. She’ll also be driving her car back to Texas with a dear friend and her daughter on Monday.

Kelly said she has not given up on her new kidneys. Her doctor said he expected her to be on the HUS experimental drug up to two years, unless her kidneys are failing. If her kidneys do not start functioning better in the next few months, she may be removed from the study.

“My doctor said, ‘I’m not writing the obituary on your kidneys,’” Kelly said. “He told me that another lady in the study – her kidneys did not start functioning until the fourth or fifth month. I’m in the fourth month. Hers are working 100 percent now.”

Spending eight stints in the hospital since her transplant, Kelly said for every step back, she feels she is gaining two forward. She drives into Brenham three times a week for dialysis, though she hopes to switch to peritoneal dialysis soon. Through PD, she can run her own dialysis at home as fits her schedule. PD is more flexible, safer and has a much lower risk of infection.

“Dialysis limits me,” she said. “That’s why I haven’t ventured out so much, but I’m getting cabin fever. I get out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I took over all the grocery shopping from my dad. Now, I can walk around and exercise.

“Overall, I’m pretty healthy. The experimental drug is the biggest thing. Everything else is pretty darned smooth.”

Though the drug has stopped her kidneys from further failing, it has not yet begun to help her kidneys function. In spite of everything she’s gone through, Kelly has two goals when she moves back to Cañon City full time. As a lifelong educator, she hopes to start an extended education program for local seniors, and she’d like to work with a not-for-profit horse program for children with special needs or that have experienced trauma. Those goals alone keep her working toward better health.

Kelly said Rhoden brought her this far with her gift of life.

“I think there was a reason,” Kelly said. “I just think my kidneys are going to start working again. I may have had to go through hard times and character building, but I have a feeling, and with all the people praying and calling and sending letters – it just is amazing. Shellen gave me this gift. I also want to thank the community for all their prayers and support.”

Those wanting to send prayers, thoughts and well wishes to Kelly may email her at, beckelly@hotmail.com.

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-story.asp?ID=17047