LINDA Joel hit rock bottom earlier this year when her husband Gary left her and took with him the kidney needed to keep her alive.
But the Abingdon mother of five now says losing her donor has saved her life.
The diabetic, 58, realised without the chance of an organ donation she had to lose weight and survive.
And after a gastric bypass operation to shrink her stomach in April, she is now looking forward to a brighter new year after shedding more than a third of her body weight.
She said: “I hit rock bottom and I did get really ill. But there was no turning back for me, it was either lose the weight and get healthy or die within a year.”
Mrs Joel, of Tower Close, has only one working kidney and suffers from heart problems.
The Oxford Mail reported in December 2009 how Mr Joel had pledged to donate the vital organ to his wife, and we reported again in March that the couple had split.
The couple had been together for nine years and were married in Abingdon in 2006.
Mrs Joel had the bypass operation at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford in April and has lost more than eight stone – going from 22 to about 13 stone.
She had to have daily injections for a month afterwards and could not eat solid food for 10 weeks.
She said: “It was really scary. The 10 weeks after I had the operation I just felt like digging a hole and disappearing.”
She is now following a strict diet and is banned from eating unhealthy food. Every day she will typically eat two spoonfuls of cereal for breakfast, a quarter of a tin of soup for lunch, and then a small plateful of food for dinner.
Mr Joel was in the same blood group as his wife, which meant the chance his kidney would be compatible was 70 per cent.
After the split he wrote her a note which read: “Linda, you and I have not been okay for a long time. I have felt the walls closing on me.
“I wish you and your family all the luck in the world but I’m not coming back.”
Last night, she said although she was heartbroken at the time, she was now glad to have broken up with Mr Joel, adding: “I haven’t seen or heard from him from that day.”
Mrs Joel used to be too embarrassed about her weight to exercise but now regularly goes walking and swimming.
The grandmother of 15 still needs a kidney and is on the NHS organ donor register.
But she said losing the weight had given her a lot more time before the situation became critical.
She added: “They told me if I had not lost the weight I would have been dead within six months.”
Mrs Joel, who is still single, said: “I am going to be living the rest of my life healthy and fit and I am going to be a fighter.
“Now I am looking for Mr Right.”
Her daughter Hayley Smith, 35, said the family had not expected her mum to live until Christmas.
She said: “Getting rid of him was the best thing that could have happened to her. You look at her now and she looks like a completely different person.
“We are all so proud of her.”
2011年12月28日星期三
2011年12月26日星期一
Richmond woman gives kidney to ailing former boss
This year, Susan Preston gave Bruce Dodds a Christmas gift that is changing his life.
Preston donated a kidney to Dodds.
"Her gift means a normal life again," Dodds said.
The living donor kidney transplant surgery took place Dec. 7 at IU Health University Hospital in Indianapolis. Dodds and Preston, both Richmond residents, are well on the mend.
For the first time in three years, food tastes good again to Dodds. His fluid intake is no longer restricted and he is free from dialysis.
"It's pretty amazing for someone not related to our family to make that gift," said Dodds' daughter, Lara Dodds.
Preston's husband, Roger Preston, and her daughters, Jessica McMorrow and Elise Chadwick, were not surprised by Preston's generosity.
"Susan is a make-a-difference kind of person," Roger Preston said.
"I would say my mom was unswerving in her decision (to donate) from Day One," McMorrow said.
Preston feels the Christmas season is the perfect time to celebrate Dodds' renewed life.
"The greatest gift given to us was Jesus," she said. "It almost seemed minuscule (in comparison) to give a kidney. It just seemed so right."
Preston and Dodds became acquainted eight years ago when he became her boss at Earlham College, where she is an administrative assistant. They each have three children and became grandparents at about the same time.
They worked together for five years before Dodds was blindsided by kidney failure from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder causing cysts. It is the most common life-threatening genetic disease, one that often lies dormant for years.
Dodds had been treated for cancer not long before the kidney failure and believes that was his trigger.
His life changed immediately.
The kidneys control about 80 to 85 percent of the body's operating systems, Dodds said. He couldn't work and had to have dialysis three days a week.
"It (dialysis) takes over your life," Dodds said.
Most people, he said, understand that dialysis cleanses the blood because the kidneys can no longer handle that function. What they don't realize, he said, is that dialysis also removes the excess fluid from the body because without working kidneys, urination is not possible.
Each dialysis treatment, Dodds said, is as hard on the body as running a marathon and that body is operating at just 30 percent of its normal energy level.
Roger Preston, who works at Reid Hospital, said there is a misconception that a person can handle dialysis indefinitely.
"It's a Band-Aid on a gaping wound," he said.
"We had no idea it was such a physical hardship," Susan Preston said.
The past three years have been an emotional roller coaster for Dodds and his family. Initially, Dodds' wife, Marilyn, was deemed a match as his kidney donor. But when doctors discovered she had kidney stones, she became ineligible. Dodds said his wife literally cried for two weeks.
Other family members sought to be a match, but they were discovered to have the genetic predisposition to polycystic kidney disease. Dodds was listed as a transplant candidate on state and national databases. He had one near match.
"It's been three years of trying circumstances," Lara Dodds said. "(My father) has gotten through it with great courage and great strength."
Preston donated a kidney to Dodds.
"Her gift means a normal life again," Dodds said.
The living donor kidney transplant surgery took place Dec. 7 at IU Health University Hospital in Indianapolis. Dodds and Preston, both Richmond residents, are well on the mend.
For the first time in three years, food tastes good again to Dodds. His fluid intake is no longer restricted and he is free from dialysis.
"It's pretty amazing for someone not related to our family to make that gift," said Dodds' daughter, Lara Dodds.
Preston's husband, Roger Preston, and her daughters, Jessica McMorrow and Elise Chadwick, were not surprised by Preston's generosity.
"Susan is a make-a-difference kind of person," Roger Preston said.
"I would say my mom was unswerving in her decision (to donate) from Day One," McMorrow said.
Preston feels the Christmas season is the perfect time to celebrate Dodds' renewed life.
"The greatest gift given to us was Jesus," she said. "It almost seemed minuscule (in comparison) to give a kidney. It just seemed so right."
Preston and Dodds became acquainted eight years ago when he became her boss at Earlham College, where she is an administrative assistant. They each have three children and became grandparents at about the same time.
They worked together for five years before Dodds was blindsided by kidney failure from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder causing cysts. It is the most common life-threatening genetic disease, one that often lies dormant for years.
Dodds had been treated for cancer not long before the kidney failure and believes that was his trigger.
His life changed immediately.
The kidneys control about 80 to 85 percent of the body's operating systems, Dodds said. He couldn't work and had to have dialysis three days a week.
"It (dialysis) takes over your life," Dodds said.
Most people, he said, understand that dialysis cleanses the blood because the kidneys can no longer handle that function. What they don't realize, he said, is that dialysis also removes the excess fluid from the body because without working kidneys, urination is not possible.
Each dialysis treatment, Dodds said, is as hard on the body as running a marathon and that body is operating at just 30 percent of its normal energy level.
Roger Preston, who works at Reid Hospital, said there is a misconception that a person can handle dialysis indefinitely.
"It's a Band-Aid on a gaping wound," he said.
"We had no idea it was such a physical hardship," Susan Preston said.
The past three years have been an emotional roller coaster for Dodds and his family. Initially, Dodds' wife, Marilyn, was deemed a match as his kidney donor. But when doctors discovered she had kidney stones, she became ineligible. Dodds said his wife literally cried for two weeks.
Other family members sought to be a match, but they were discovered to have the genetic predisposition to polycystic kidney disease. Dodds was listed as a transplant candidate on state and national databases. He had one near match.
"It's been three years of trying circumstances," Lara Dodds said. "(My father) has gotten through it with great courage and great strength."
2011年12月13日星期二
A desert battle with salt
Drinking water has become an altogether less pleasurable experience for me of late. Gone are the days of gleefully gulping down glass after refreshing glass. Instead, I now find myself scrutinising the sides of bottles and paying over-inflated prices for fancy French and Norwegian brands in restaurants. I have a good friend to thank for this about-turn in my behaviour, for recently developing kidney stones, which the doctor said was due to my friend's excessive sodium intake.
So debilitating, so painful was the experience for my pal that I decided to do some research of my own to ensure I do not fall prey to the same symptoms. I almost wish I hadn't, for I discovered that when it comes to the formation of calcium stones, salt in all its guises is to blame and not merely the table variety we've all come to know and love.
Indeed, bottled water seemed to be a chief culprit, with some brands containing up to 16mg of sodium in just one litre. Compare that with high-end European brands of water with levels in the low single digits and you realise why the price is three times as high.
In my quest for healthy kidneys, that lifestyle change was the hardest and costliest one for me to make. The easiest, however, was cutting back my salt intake in food. I have always had a natural aversion to salt - be it in the form of cured and smoked foods or even a sprinkling on a portion of French fries. It is without doubt the worst taste in the world for me and the thought of one day mistaking salt granules for sugar brings me out in a cold sweat. This dislike has of course led to some embarrassing moments, namely at a recent dinner party where one bold guest asked me whether I had used any seasoning in the cooking process at all.
Admittedly, I am unlikely to come to a sticky end with sodium-induced high blood pressure or calcium deposits in my major organs. If anything, it's more probable I'll be deficient and need to up my intake of the natural mineral.
Either way, and despite my best efforts to avoid it, I feel sure that salt will somehow have the last laugh. For it stands to reason I must be consuming considerable amounts of it in everything from sauces and dressings to soups and cheeses.
Well, so be it. Life is too short to cut out the things you love and I certainly won't be researching the potential harmful side effects of excessive gorging on dark chocolate any time soon.
So debilitating, so painful was the experience for my pal that I decided to do some research of my own to ensure I do not fall prey to the same symptoms. I almost wish I hadn't, for I discovered that when it comes to the formation of calcium stones, salt in all its guises is to blame and not merely the table variety we've all come to know and love.
Indeed, bottled water seemed to be a chief culprit, with some brands containing up to 16mg of sodium in just one litre. Compare that with high-end European brands of water with levels in the low single digits and you realise why the price is three times as high.
In my quest for healthy kidneys, that lifestyle change was the hardest and costliest one for me to make. The easiest, however, was cutting back my salt intake in food. I have always had a natural aversion to salt - be it in the form of cured and smoked foods or even a sprinkling on a portion of French fries. It is without doubt the worst taste in the world for me and the thought of one day mistaking salt granules for sugar brings me out in a cold sweat. This dislike has of course led to some embarrassing moments, namely at a recent dinner party where one bold guest asked me whether I had used any seasoning in the cooking process at all.
Admittedly, I am unlikely to come to a sticky end with sodium-induced high blood pressure or calcium deposits in my major organs. If anything, it's more probable I'll be deficient and need to up my intake of the natural mineral.
Either way, and despite my best efforts to avoid it, I feel sure that salt will somehow have the last laugh. For it stands to reason I must be consuming considerable amounts of it in everything from sauces and dressings to soups and cheeses.
Well, so be it. Life is too short to cut out the things you love and I certainly won't be researching the potential harmful side effects of excessive gorging on dark chocolate any time soon.
2011年4月10日星期日
Nitrate-tainted milk case in China deemed intentional poisoning
Intentional poisoning was behind the tainted milk that killed three children and caused 36 others to become ill in China's northwestern Gansu province last week, state media reported Sunday night, adding to the woes of the country's maligned dairy industry.
Local investigators in Pingliang city said they had arrested suspects in connection with the nitrate-laden milk that caused 39 people to seek hospital care last Thursday, Xinhua news agency said. It did not give details on the suspects' identities or motives.
Nitrate, which is used to cure meat, has no use as a milk additive, the official China Daily newspaper cited a health bureau official as saying.
The three children who died after consuming the tainted milk were all under two years old. As of Sunday, 17 of the victims remained hospitalised but were in stable condition.
China's food sector has suffered from frequent poisonings and toxin scandals, and the fast-growing but fragmented dairy sector has been at the heart of those worries.
Earlier this year, Chinese quality authorities sought to calm renewed public alarm after reports that some manufacturers had illegally added a leather protein powder to dairy products to cheat protein-content checks.
In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill from powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical added to low quality or diluted milk to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high readings for protein levels.
Local investigators in Pingliang city said they had arrested suspects in connection with the nitrate-laden milk that caused 39 people to seek hospital care last Thursday, Xinhua news agency said. It did not give details on the suspects' identities or motives.
Nitrate, which is used to cure meat, has no use as a milk additive, the official China Daily newspaper cited a health bureau official as saying.
The three children who died after consuming the tainted milk were all under two years old. As of Sunday, 17 of the victims remained hospitalised but were in stable condition.
China's food sector has suffered from frequent poisonings and toxin scandals, and the fast-growing but fragmented dairy sector has been at the heart of those worries.
Earlier this year, Chinese quality authorities sought to calm renewed public alarm after reports that some manufacturers had illegally added a leather protein powder to dairy products to cheat protein-content checks.
In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill from powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical added to low quality or diluted milk to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high readings for protein levels.
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