34 is too young

[iketchum]

I just read of the passing of a young man I had met at my old center. He just got a kidney and I thought he was doing well. He passed away at his home from some complication. 34 is much too young. Rest in peace James.

[twirl]

we had a 12 year old boy die last year at my unit
sorry about James

[okarol]

Very sad.
My son's name is James. 

[paris]

Always sad to read news like this.

[willowtreewren]

This is sad news. 34 is definitely too young. 

[RightSide]

It's very sad for ANYONE to have to die of ESRD.
But especially when it's a young person.

[Jean]

How very sad.

[karen547]

so sorry to hear this! 

[LightLizard]

hearing about young people with kidney failure is so depressing. i feel that having reached the age of 60,
i'm kind of amazed. i really didn't expect to make it this far, honestly, so i have no complaints.
and when you think of it, there are thousands of young people that die every day on this planet.
the difference with them is that they died for lack of clean drinking water. it' s kind of hilarious when you consider the fact that people in the poor countries die from lack of essentials. while people in the richer countries die from excess, quite often. the question is, who has it worse?

[RichardMEL]

A sad and tragic reminder that:

a) life is too short
b) transplantation can come with complications - rejection or worse

life is precious and to be lived.

My condolences to the family, friends and all who knew James. Definitely too young.

[pamster42000]

 When Sarah started hemo dialysis the first time  (1992) there was a young boy named Arron about nine years old. I still remember the day we went to dialysis and heard he passed away. Some things will stay with you forever....

[Neo]

Thats awful to hear.. Im 30 and on dialysis and have been most of my 20's but we all got to do what we all gotta do. I try to look at the success stories of the people that are on dialysis and get transplants and live long lives. So always remember its possible.

[hurlock1]

That's what I'M talking about!  Everybody sits around talking about Transplant this, and transplant that, "I'm on the list!" and "When I get my transplant. . .", but when it comes down to it, EVERY TIME you have any kind of operation you run the risk of death, EVERY TIME you have any operation to "improve" your life there is a physical price to pay, like it or not. For me, the risk of a painful (don't let'em tell you it's not painful) operation, people, no matter how talented they are, just human beings, cutting into your body, replacing an organ that belonged to someone else, for a result that is temporary at best, is just not worth it. After you have the transplant surgery you have to take "anti-rejection drugs" some of which are steroids, that make you crazy, and ugly. Then you have to take drugs to try to make you not crazy. There aren't drugs that can make you not ugly.
Believe me, doctors that do transplant surgeries make a lot of money, and they may be the best surgeons in the world. It's not like on TV; You have the transplant surgery, you get better, you don't have to go to dialysis anymore. . .but the truth is you just have another list of things that you have to do just to stay alive, just to keep that "somebody else's  kidney" alive in your body. The doctors that do the surgery will tell you, "Oh yeah, don't worry, you'll be fine after the surgery" but they are just looking forward to paying for that trip to the Mediterranean, or that new Mercedes. . . Then you die or throw the kidney, and have to start the whole process all over again. 

[hurlock1]

This is sad news. 34 is definitely too young. 

Any age is too young. 50 is too young. 60 is too young. . . But, everybody dies. I can understand a 34 y/o wanting a regular life. Anybody, for that matter. The horror of that person, realizing that he's dying of "complications" from an operation that's, at least temorarily to bring some semblance of normalcy to his life to me is what is really sad. . .

[Jie]

We must be realistic. We are the population that have a very high mortality rate. We could die on any given day, transplanted, or on dialysis. Try to enjoy the days whenever we have and try our best to hang out there as long as possible. As long as we try our best, death is not so hard any more.

[RichardMEL]

Hurlock I respect your opinion and view on transplantation. I can certainly understand that - the prospect of the operation doesn't appeal at all.. however I'm more on Jie's side of things. Every day is a risk. Every so often you hear about someone who passed away during dialysis or had a heart attack or their heart stopped due to high K or whatever... every single day is a risk for us. As a dialysis patient *I* personally am willing to take that risk because *I* believe the quality of life that I could potentially have will be better than what I have now. I prefer to be positive about the chances.. if bad things happen well at least I tried.. and who can't say that bad things could happen if I stay on hemo.

As it is I'm just waiting on that call which may not yet come for years, so this may not be an issue for me anytime soon. I also have hope that medical advances could mean anything in 10 or 20 years (and hopefully *I* will still be around to enjoy any benefits they deliver. Here I'm talking about stuff like portable kidneys, stem cell releated research, and so on).

The thing is that everyone's lives are their own to run as they wish. There's no right or wrong answers so please don't think that I'm trying to talk you (Hurlock) down for how you feel about the issue. Everyone's different. Everyone has different goals in life, different experiences and wishes. What works for one may not work for another.

I wish everyone well with whatever choices they make, and thinking of the 34 year old - sometimes it may just come down to Fate, or random chance. Me, I'm willing to roll the dice and see what happens.

[maritza0486]

Hey Richard, I completely agree with what you are saying. Everyone is different and as long as you are positive, things will turn out for the best. Life and death happen every day even to the healthiest individuals. People die from different things...some people get shot, some people get a life-threatening disease, some people commit suicide...it is just part of life and when your time comes, it will come. I had a kidney transplant at age 19 and as much as I feared dying, I knew I would be ok. I will never forget any of it. It was the best thing that could ever occur to me. Yes, the anti rejection medications are a pain in the neck because the docs give you like 15-20 different medications and out of those, you take like 30 a day but it is life. Yeah, some of the medications cause swelling, puffiness, and other disturbances such as nausea, vomiting, and headaches but in my opinion since I have experienced both scenarios, I would still choose transplantation. But that is my opinion. I was free.

[dwcrawford]

Well, I did promise not to post anymore but what the hell!  I am me and that's what I wanted to talk about.  You've hit on it a few times but the truth is, as Richard said, we are all different.  When the process is started whether early in life of late in live, the key, in my opinion, it to totally evaluated yourself.  Yes, you must know the risks of various avenues, the pros and cons, but more importantly you must know which of these factors of risk, lifestyle, inconvenience, etc. that you as an individual are most willing to take or which you would be more comfortable in living with. 
 If there were a transplant I might consider iit if I were young enough or otherwise eligible,  but I hate the idea of transplantS in the plural.  Many seems to feel worse after it than before.  It looks to me, though I haven't seen statistics, that the most successful ones are few and far between.  I chose in center hemo.  I like to get out.  I want someone else to clean the machines and keep track of my meds, etc.  I wouldn't not like living with the equipment and supplies that in home would require.  I just want to forget that I am sick when I get home.  It is my sanctuary however humble.  Hey,  I know many of you feel differently.  But I spent lots of time evaluating myself and admitting to a lot of unpopular things, like vanity, living with or without a catheter, how it would make me feel to spend obscene sums of money for in home care (I'm cheap), etc.
 Know yourself and what you can handle.  That's all I'm saying.  Sorry for the rant. 

That said, there are worse things in life than death.  (oh yea, in my opinion)

[lola]

Otto is a good person to say is taking risk, for most of you that have known us remember what Otto went threw in October. 10 months later he still is willing to take another risk at a transplant, me on the other hand will have to be heavily medicated till he's ready for discharge . Plus if we were all the same, think how boring this site would be.