New data reveals a lack of proactive patient engagement can lead kidney disease patients down a troubling path. While dialysis patients are promised more days of life, three of those days (every week) are spent tethered to a dialysis machine.
To make matters worse, the days in between treatments are filled with nausea, fatigue and lingering distress. Sadly, the decision to start dialysis often occurs in the 11th hour, with little if any proactive engagement. More often than not, end stage kidney disease patients have no idea what they’re getting into — or how they could have bypassed dialysis if they were transplant eligible and took a more proactive approach.
This is not a matter of accepting or rejecting dialysis. It’s a matter of fighting for the best life possible through proactive self-advocacy. It’s about slowing disease progression, managing symptoms and making lifestyle changes that preserve remaining kidney function. It’s about requesting an early evaluation and getting approved for a transplant before numbers get into the redzone (before GFR10). It’s about sharing one’s story and increasing awareness in our nation’s organ shortage and the need for more living kidney donors.
Did I get your attention? Is it time to become your own best advocate and secure a better future? Whether you’re hoping to avoid dialysis or get off dialysis by securing a living kidney donor transplant, learn how to use your voice and become a Donor Magnet Wizard today! Learn more here: www.findingkidneydonors.com
TransplantFirst Academy is raising community awareness in living kidney donation.