Jump in your boat, grab a paddle and ride the river to a joyful life on dialysi

This summer I paddled 225 miles in ten days, did nocturnal home hemodialysis each night and raised $17,000 for kidney disease prevention.  I did this to celebrate ten years on dialysis.   Perhaps my adventure can help to motivate your patients to be compliant and to embrace a more active and fulfilling lifestyle.  I have FSGS which has shut down two transplanted kidneys (one from my wife) and have done a variety of dialysis modalities, but I’m not letting kidney disease get in the way of living a wonderful life.

As past board member of a national dialysis patient advocacy organization I am well aware of the difficulties dialysis providers have in helping their patients to embrace dialysis as a true gift of life.  Dialysis provides an opportunity, if followed per prescription, to live a meaningful and joyful life.  Unfortunately patients all too often are overwhelmed by the disease and can seem to achieve this.

Last year I developed a presentation, The Patient as Captain of his Team, to help motivate provider staff.

“WOW. . . . . . did our folks love you. . . . . and so did I!”  Thanks so much for coming out to support our Symposium Meeting,”

wrote David F. Shepherd, Vice President, Greenfield Health Systems after I delivered the presentation on both days of Greenfield’s Renal Care Symposium 2009:  “Engaging Excellence,” held November 18-19.  Because of this I was invited to by the Kidney Foundation of Northwest Ohio to present at their 2010 Spring Professional Symposium.  I also had a similar presentation accepted and delivered at the 2010 Annual Dialysis Conference held in March in Seattle.

The beginning of last year, I created a blog - http://paddlingondialysisforkidneyhealth.blogspot.com/ so that fellow patients and others could follow me as I attempted to get into shape and prepare for the grueling paddling event. You see, I'm am not a super athlete, rather am I an average forty-five year old guy, husband and father of two young children who happens to have been on dialysis for ten years.  Perhaps you saw the story in the September 2010 issue of Nephrology News & Issues. 

The blog was also used to help raise money for the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan.  I set a goal of $20,000 and am still working to meet it.  I have enclosed a couple of the newspaper articles that covered the story for your enjoyment.  The March 6 entry to my blog is a copy of the presentation I delivered to the Annual Dialysis Conference.

I have a new presentation which documents with humor how a middle age out of shape dialysis patient can set an activity goal, develop a training routine, and embark on adventure and dialyze along the way.  It is called "Jump in your boat, grab a paddle and ride the river to a joyful life on dialysis."

I would love to help you to help your patients to reach their full potential.