Life after kidney transplant

Sep 20, 2020 News

– a survivor shares his story

By Rehanna Ramsay

It has been five years since Kiran Hardyal underwent a life-saving kidney transplant operation at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

In a better place: Kiran Hardyal is living a full life after kidney transplant.

Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Kishore Persaud.

Since then, Hardyal, 31, has been enjoying a quality of life, which he says would not have been possible if he hadn’t benefitted from that surgery. During a recent interview, Hardyal said he is nothing short of grateful to be alive today.
Hardyal, who resides with his mother at Wallers Delight, West Coast Demerara has been taking life in strides. He said that being diagnosed with the life altering illness gave him a different outlook on life.
“My life is basically back to normal now—I am able to assist my mother and do most of the things I used to do before I had kidney problems. For instance, I cook, play cricket and travel to see new places; I can do that now, since I am off dialysis,” Hardyal stated.
“All I need is to have my medication at hand,” Hardyal said, noting that he is still on the road to full recovery.
“My medication is basically my life. It’s what’s keeping my kidney working and I continue to be monitored. I have to check with the doctors and drink lots of water to take care of my kidney but it’s easier than being on dialysis,” he added.
“To those who played a part in helping me go through the operation, I am extremely grateful and I want to help others who are going through what I went through in any way I can,” he said.Prior to the operation, Hardyal explained that he was plagued with incessant pain and was subject to dialysis. The dialysis – a treatment for kidney failure – he said, took over his life.
“I was not in a good place at all. I was in my 20s but I basically couldn’t do anything for myself. I had to stop working because my sickness had taken over my life,” he said.
Hardyal said that by the time he was diagnosed, his kidney failure could not be corrected by treatment. He recalled that when he started feeling sick on the job at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) estate at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, the nurse at the facility recommended that he checked with the doctors at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.

Surrounded by the transplant team after his surgery five years ago.

“I started having some terrible headaches and could no longer be in the heat without feeling bad. I went to Best [West Demerara] hospital but they couldn’t find the problem, so my family took me to Woodlands Hospital where the doctors found the problem– my kidney was
failing. So, they immediately recommended that I go on treatment,” Hardyal related.
As a result, Hardyal met Dr. Dunia Nunes Arguelle—a Cuban specialist attached at the GPHC, where he started receiving treatment. He was soon after placed on dialysis.
“Dr. Dunia tried her best to help me,” he recalled. However, he said that his condition worsened.
“I was told that I needed to do the transplant operation but that it would cost over $5M. With that heavy cost attached, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen for me. I was basically living on a prayer,” the transplant patient explained.
Hardyal’s prospects for surgery only changed once he was told about Dr. Kishore Persaud, a transplant surgeon who was just returning from his studies at the University of Calgary, Canada.
“I met with Dr. Persuad like one year after the diagnosis and he told me that he can perform the operation at GPHC but all I needed was a donor,” he stated.
He recalled that in a matter of weeks, he was able to undergo the tests to find a donor that was compatible.
“The tests were done on my mother, father and brother but they were not a match, but my aunt, Satyam Inderdeo who is like my second mother, volunteered to give me a kidney as she was my match,” Hardyal said.
As a result of finding a donor, Hardyal is the first patient to successfully undergo a kidney transplant operation conducted by Dr. Persaud and his team at the GPHC.
Dr. Persaud has since completed over 28 successful operations – giving many patients with renal failure, the opportunity to return to the normalcy of life.
Dr. Persaud noted, however, that so much more can be accomplished if the necessary legislation is in place. “If we get legislation we can help a lot more people. About 80 percent of the patients with kidney failure die in two years. We have over 100 renal failure patients in Guyana on a waiting list for kidney transplant with no donors,” said Dr. Persaud.
He however added, “If we get legislation, this can be done through cadaveric transplants, where organs are harvested from brain-dead patients and donated to others and then many people lead lives like Kiran Hardyal.”

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