Nightmare 21-year wait for a kidney
Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 10 Jul 2011 08:00 1 Comment
FORMER lorry driver Ray Dollery has made a moving plea for someone to free him from his "nightmare" 21 year wait for a new kidney.
The 52-year-old Whitley man was speaking to The Chronicle while hooked up to the Royal Berkshire Hospital hemodialysis unit which he must use in four-and-a-half hour stints to remove waste products from his blood three times every week of his life.
He said: "I've become chained to this machine. It's a nightmare because you can't go away for more than a weekend, because you rely on the treatment. At the moment I'm fine but your condition can deteriorate at any time and you could be dead by the end of the week.
"There just aren't enough donors. We are always hopeful to find a match but as time goes on hope declines."
His kidneys failed in 1990 after suffering reflux - where urine backs up from the bladder. His chances of finding a donor have now become more remote because in 1992 he was given a new kidney which failed after 14 months and he has now built up a wide range of antibodies. Organ matches rely on blood groups and tissue types and there are hundreds of thousands of different combinations.
Mr Dollery, whose arm is disfigured by large cysts and bumps caused by the tubes and needles inserted so regularly into his veins and arteries, said: "Some people might not want to go on the list because of religious reasons, or they are scared of an operation but the surgery isn't as bad as it used to be. Recovery times are a lot shorter. There are a lot of people in desperate need and it would free them."
In total 92 people across Reading are waiting for organs - with more than half (54) needing kidneys. But only 11 operations have been completed this financial year and only 37 were carried out in 2010-11. Tragically 12 people have died since 2007 because they could not find a match in time.
Royal Berkshire Hospital organ donation nurse Claire Nelson who is spearheading the hospital's National Transplant Week campaign, said patients typically wait up to four years for a new organ. She pointed out that although 96% of people say they support national organ donor register, only 29% have signed up to it.
She added: "It's a shame that so many people support it in principle but only a fraction are signed up. Every year people are dying because we can't find donors."
To register contact 0300 123 23 23 contact
www.organdonation.nhs.ukhttp://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/reading/articles/2011/07/10/52925-nightmare-21yearold-wait-for-a-kidney/
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