Pictured are Travis Fieser and Kayleen Grant. Travis was on dialysis for four and a half years when his fiancé, Kayleen, became his living kidney donor in 2023.
2,500 hours. That’s enough time to watch the extended editions of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy … 217 times. But instead of an enjoyable fantasy experience in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, you’re hooked up to a machine as your blood is filtered. Afterward, you feel tired, nauseous, and experience muscle cramping. Then two days later, you wake up, maybe go to work, and experience four hours of being hooked up to that machine again. Then you do it again two days later. Every week. For four months, a year, five years, 10 years. That machine is your frenemy: it’s keeping you alive, but phew, is it exhausting to orient your life around it.
That machine is for dialysis treatment, replicating what your failed kidneys would do, such as filtering waste and excess fluid from the blood. Dialysis is a stop-gap measure until, or if, you receive a life-saving kidney transplant, whether from a living or deceased donor. The wait is why dialysis treatment, if someone reaches that stage, may last four months to a year or even much longer. Yes, those on dialysis can still live their life — go to work, be with their families, and travel — but it’s not an easy life. Individuals on dialysis are not able to live their lives to the fullest. The time commitment alone disrupts your life: three to four hours hooked up to the dialysis machine three days a week.
But it is important that people on dialysis stick to their treatment, not only because the treatment is keeping them alive, but because that also helps maintain their position on the transplant waiting list. The transplant waiting list is all of the people in the United States, currently more than 104,000 people, waiting for an organ transplant, most of whom are waiting for a life-saving kidney. Those on the waitlist receive organs only from deceased donors who made the selfless decision to be organ donors upon their death. Staying healthy — staying on dialysis — means being ready for surgery should the call come for a transplant.
March is National Kidney Month, an opportunity to get to know these hard-working cleaners of the body’s blood, ensure you’re not heading to chronic kidney disease by checking for prediabetes, and educating the community on the importance of organ donation, living and deceased. In addition to filtering waste and toxins from the blood, kidneys also regulate fluid levels, keep our bones healthy, direct production of red blood cells, regulate blood pressure, and keep blood minerals in balance. They do a lot! Which is why kidney disease can lead to a whole host of issues, including cardiovascular disease, heart attack, weak bones, high blood pressure, stroke, and ultimately, kidney failure.
One of the main risk factors for developing kidney disease is diabetes. To prevent diabetes and the potential for developing chronic kidney disease, it is important to maintain a balanced diet, stay active, and avoid smoking. What does a balanced diet mean? Try cutting down on soda and sugar-sweetened beverages. Add more fruits and veggies to what you eat! Staying active means 30-45 minutes of physical activity three to five days a week. Take a nice, brisk walk, especially with the weather improving! The idea is to not sit as much.
You can take our prediabetes test at networkforhope.org/prediabetes to assess your risk.
Imagine being the person who saves the person on dialysis from a life like that — from not being able to live their life to the fullest. You could do so by being a living donor. Donating one of your kidneys is possible. I speak from experience as a living kidney donor. I donated to a stranger in 2019. How neat is it that our kidneys do so much and yet, one kidney is enough? Consider sharing your spare. There are not enough deceased donors for the number of people waiting for kidneys. You could make a difference!
Travis Fieser was the one who spent 2,500 hours on dialysis. He was 10 years old when he was diagnosed with a chronic kidney disease known as IgA nephropathy, or Berger’s disease. Eventually, that led to kidney failure. After four and a half years of dialysis treatment, Travis’ life was saved by his fiancé, Kayleen Grant, who became his living kidney donor in 2023.
Now, thanks to his gifted kidney, Travis said he could finally breathe and think clearly — everything was “better than normal.” He’s gone on to surf, rock climb, and travel, all activities he had to give up or limit while on dialysis. And Kathleen has no lingering effects from her donation, either.
Kayleen is a hero, and you could be, too! To learn more about living donation, please visit networkforhope.org/living-donation.
Those on dialysis deserve a second chance to get on to living. National Kidney Month is not only a reminder of that, but for those of us with functioning kidneys to take care of them, and potentially, to even give one away.
You can also register your decision to be a deceased donor at your local BMV, on their website, or at networkforhope.org.
If you ever have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me via email at bmilam@networkforhope.org. You can also mail your inquiries to:
Network for Hope, 615 Elsinore Pl, Suite 400, Cincinnati, OH 45202
By Brett Milam, community relations associate, Network for Hope.