Nurse rides to save 'warriors'

Posted on Sat, Sep. 08, 2007

Nurse rides to save 'warriors'

By RICHARD DYMOND
rdymond@bradenton.com

With a marathon bicycle trip facing him, 41-year-old Hunter Williams might wake up several days next week with an aching body.

But the 6-foot, 192-pound registered nurse from East Manatee, who has never biked long distances, knows his discomfort will be temporary compared to the fatigue, nausea, weight loss and general malaise he sees daily from his patients.

"They are warriors in their own right," Williams said of the young and old who spend 3½ to four hours three times a week reading, sleeping or watching TV while their blood is cleansed of toxins by dialysis machines.

Williams, who works as an acute dialysis nurse at Blake Hospital for national dialysis-provider DaVita Inc., has decided to do something for his "warriors" by joining 200 who plan to ride road bicycles 230 miles from Alabama to Tennessee in the "Tour DaVita."

Williams flies to Florence, Ala., Tuesday to get ready for the event, which is scheduled Wednesday through Saturday.

The tour - which winds along the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, a U.S. National Park Service site - is being held to raise money to fight kidney disease and to raise awareness that, with early detection and treatment, people can go longer without needing to go on a dialysis machine, Williams said.

"Hunter is a great guy who puts out so much for everyone," said fellow Blake dialysis nurse Tony Arredondo, who surprised Williams on Friday by bringing Williams a "gel" bike seat to ward off saddle sores.

"This is a guy who would take the shirt off his back and give you an extra dollar," Arredondo said. "He gives everyone 100 percent."

What makes this bike trek a bit of a "walk a mile in their shoes" experience for Williams is that, although he lifts weights and goes to Lifestyles gym twice or three times a week, he's not a long-distance bicyclist and expects to feel some of the "worn out" symptoms of his patients, although certainly not as acute.

"I'm a bit nervous, because of the physical aspect," Williams said Friday. "I think I'm in good shape but I've never tried to ride this distance. The longest day is 90 miles."

Williams has raised about $1,000 from 25 local donors as part of his participation. Many Blake doctors, nurses and staff have contributed from $10 to $100 toward his ride, Williams said.

"Dialysis patients have to dramatically alter their lifestyle," Williams said. "I see people my age and younger, fathers, mothers and elderly. We've come a long way with medications to make quality of life better for dialysis patients over the last 30 years."

A lot of times people don't even know they have kidney problems, Williams said.

"They come in already in kidney failure and have to start dialysis," Williams said. "A lot of times we can put it off for quite a long time if they can come in before that."

Once people start dialysis, 99 percent stay on it for life, Williams said.

High blood pressure and diabetes are the two culprits that most lead to the failure of the kidneys to filter toxins out of the blood.

With dialysis, the patient's blood runs through an artificial kidney that removes toxins and excess fluids.

Williams helps his patients look at dialysis in a different light.

"I tell them to think of it as a part-time job that you have to go to, even if you don't feel good," Williams said.

Williams lives on 5 acres two miles south of Hunsader Farms right off Country Road 675 in East Manatee. He and his wife, Cathie, a registered nurse at Manatee Memorial's Intensive Care Unit, are raising two children at home - Sarah, 14, who attends Sarasota Military Academy and Alex, 12, who goes to Julie Rohr Academy in Sarasota.

Jessica, 17, recently graduated from a high school in northern Kentucky.

His colleagues have no doubt that Williams will survive the bike test.

Said Arredondo, "He'll make it, he's too macho not to!"

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7917.

http://www.bradenton.com/280/story/141000.html