Reflections of a kidney transplant survivor

Dec 27, 2020 News

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A happy and healthy outlook at Christmas …

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur  News For more than 100 patients on the kidney transplant waiting list, finding the right donor could be the single determining factor on the question of whether they live or die.
Many of these patients have stories of how their worlds were turned upside down after they received a diagnosis of a failing kidney from their doctors; their quality of life became literally hinged on costly dialysis treatment. And for those patients, the impact of the ailment has wide reaching effects, especially on those closest — their families.This is an all too familiar territory for Nurse Chitra Sheonarine. She told Kaieteur News that when her father was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) or chronic kidney disease in February of this year, she felt as if her life was ending. As a healthcare provider, Sheonarine is cognizant of the struggles of renal failure patients and the slim chance many of them have for the life-saving transplant operation, due to the non-availability of organ donors.

As such, she immediately reached out to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Head of Kidney transplant operations, Dr. Kishore Persaud. Sheonarine recalled, “Dr. Persaud gave us the best advice on our options for care and treatment.”
Soon after, she said arrangements were made for Mr. Sheonarine to undergo dialysis treatment, which cost $12,000 a session. The treatment, which was administered three times a week, was very taxing on the Sheonarine family.
“It was expensive but my father is worth the sacrifice, there is no question about that. He means everything to my family and I. I couldn’t afford to lose him. We have a very close connection and I want my daughter to have that same love and connection with her grandfather,” she said of her 54-year-old father.

As a result, Nurse Sheonarine began to explore the possibility of undergoing the operation, while her father was being treated for his condition.
She explained that since a vital part of the transplant is to find a donor who matched her dad, she quickly offered to donate one of her kidneys to him.
“It was his best chance of survival and having a normal life, one which is not dependent on dialysis,” she said.
The nurse said that her father received dialysis for three months at the 5G dialysis centre in South Georgetown before they were able to undergo the operation.
“We had been talking to Dr. Persaud and preparing for the operation. We had to do several blood and compatibility tests before we could go forward,” the nurse said, explaining that while the operation at the GPHC is free, testing can be costly.
One such component of the procedure is the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) testing. The test is done to determine whether the organ and tissue transplant recipients are compatible with their donors.
HLA testing also includes screening transplant recipients for the presence of antibodies that might target the donated tissue or organ as part of an immune response.

That test which is the most critical part of the procedure is done at a Miami-based medical facility and costs close to G$1M.
The expense is partly covered by the Government of Guyana, but it does not always prove compatibility between the donor and recipient, even if they are related by blood.
Fortunately, for the Sheonarines, the test was positive for compatibility and they were able to move forward with the operation, last October.
The nurse noted that despite concerns about the pandemic, she felt a sense of comfort and relief knowing that her father’s condition would significantly improve after the surgery.
“I was not too concerned about getting the COVID-19 viruses because the nurses and doctors of GPHC made us feel safe and comfortable about the entire procedure. It was absolutely no worries,” she said.
“This year was difficult on a lot of people, many persons did not survive and so, for my family and I, we are eternally grateful that we are able to pull through successfully. I don’t have words to say how thankful I am to Dr. Persaud and the entire team at GPHC that saw us through this life-saving operation,” Sheonarine said, adding that her father was one of the few persons, who benefitted from a kidney transplant operation this year.
So this season, while many persons are caught up with the festivities of the Christmas season, the reality of people like the Sheonarines is starkly different.
Mr. Sheonarine told Kaieteur News, this year, more than anything else, he is grateful to be alive and to be able to spend the holidays with his loving and supportive family. The minibus operator spoke of the struggle of having to live on dialysis for three months.
“Living on dialysis altered my life and it was difficult on my entire family,” he said, adding “I was glad that my daughter was able to donate her kidney to help me.”
Having benefitted from the transplant operation, Mr. Sheonarine and his daughter are highly supportive of calls for legislation that will make it easier for patients who need transplant operations to find donors.
“I am feeling much better. The surgery was helpful to me and I think it would be a very good thing if the government can pass the law to give patients like myself better access to donor transplant operations,” he asserted.
Nurse Sheonarine expressed similar sentiments.
“I think legislation to govern cadaveric organ donation and transplant,” she said, “is an excellent idea because more people will be able to access organs even if they don’t have a live donor.”
Cadaveric donation is organs, which are harvested from brain-dead patients, and donated to others. This method reduces the overall hospital cost compared to having to harvest the organ from a live donor.
Once the law is in place, GPHC will perform the operations free of cost. In the meantime, the hospital continues to fight for the necessary legislation to save lives and help resolve the burden of kidney failure in Guyana.

 

 

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