It's not about failure

It's not about failure

Ironman contestant spreads hope to fellow dialysis patients

By Alexandria Burris
aburris@dailyworld.com
10-7-07

Ironman Shad Ireland sat at Betty Boyd's side Wednesday as plastic tubes circulated her blood through a dialysis machine to rid it of extra waste, salt, water and other impurities.
Boyd is a patient at Fresenius Medical Care in Opelousas, which serves 84 patients seeking dialysis treatment for kidney failure or disease.

Like Boyd, Ireland also receives dialysis treatments. For the past 25 years, Ireland has been living with kidney failure, but he does not let his condition get the best of him.

That's why the Minnesota-native stopped at Fresenius Medical Care in Opelousas and five other Louisiana dialysis clinics.
Ireland, the first dialysis patient to compete in an Ironman triathlon, wants to inspire others like Boyd to realize they are more than their diagnosis.

The Ironman Triathlon is an endurance competition that challenges athletes to complete a course by swimming, running and biking.

"My biggest accomplishment is that I am successfully living with dialysis," Ireland said.

At the age of 10, Ireland was diagnosed with MPGN Type I kidney failure.

Ireland said he spent much of his early years negatively dealing with the disease.

"I was non-compliant. I really struggled with this diagnosis," he said.

Kidney failure and never-ending dialysis treatments dashed any childhood hopes Ireland had of becoming an athlete.

It was a painful experience physically and emotionally, Ireland's body rejected two kidney transplants. After the first failed transplant, he was hospitalized and in a coma.

"I had given up on life, and so many people do," he said.

Then one day Ireland caught an Ironman competition on TV. He said he watched as triathletes collapsed and crawled their way to the finish line.

He reflected on the distance they traveled and the struggles the athletes endured just to finish the race.

"I was inspired by that. That promise I had made gave me hope," he said.

Now he wants others to have hope and educate the public about kidney disease. Louisiana has more than 5,000 dialysis patients. Ireland has partnered with Fresenius Medical Care, which has 1,600 clinics nationwide. It serves more than 500 patients between Ville Platte, Breaux Bridge, Opelousas and Lafayette.

Pam Childs, area manager for Fresenius Medical Care, said dialysis patients lose a little control of their lives.

On average patients receive three and a half to four hours of dialysis every other day.

Ricky N. Kimble, 47, of Melville is one of those patients. He has kidney failure and has been on dialysis for nine months.

Kimble described himself as an avid soda-drinker, who would down about 100 bottles of soda in a month's span. He said he had stopped drinking water when he was about 20.

"I wasn't putting water in my system," he said.

In a good two-week period, Kimble said he would ingest 60 to 70 bottles of strawberry soda, Sprite, root beer or whatever he could get his hands on. Then his kidney's failed.

"By me not getting all the water and stuff that I need, that just shot me down," he said.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Kimble can be found at Fresenius receiving dialysis. He said his life isn't drastically different than it was before except now he can't chop heavy wood or work in his garden.

According to the U.S. Center of Disease Control and Prevention, blacks are 4.5 times more likely to develop kidney failure than whites. Kidney failure is often linked to diabetes and high blood pressure.

"What we are trying to do is educate everybody about those statistics and get people in the community to be a little offended about it," Ireland said after sitting at several patients sides.

Ireland said the number of Americans living with kidney disease and failure is growing.

He said one of his goals is to motivate people to want to facilitate change.

http://www.dailyworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/NEWS01/710070319
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Photo by Alexandria Burris

Shad Ireland, an Ironman participant, was diagnosed with kideny failure 25 years ago. He visited Fresenius Medical Care Oct. 3 to help inspire patients on dialysis not to give up on their battle to be healthy.