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Patient SpeakerPlease note, this page is a summary of the full conference speech (click here for the full transcript). Deborah DuvalHaving gone into renal failure in her mid
20’s Deborah had a pancreatic / renal transplant in
October 1994. She was back in renal failure three years after the
transplant and had her second kidney transplant in May 1999. Her
pancreas failed in February 2002 and she is currently waiting for
a transplant. Deborah works tirelessly for patients, teaching transplant
related courses to nurses and she is also chairperson of the fundraising
arm of the British Organ Donor Society (BODY) - last year she walked
117 miles and raised just under £7000 for the charity. |
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When my transplanted kidney failed and once again I commenced dialysis,
I moved to Hampshire. I became the responsibility of Southampton Health
Authority. They would only finance two sessions of haemodialysis for me
a week. Just three miles west in Dorset I would have been offered my essential
three sessions a week. A few phone calls confirmed my own suspicions -
without the full three sessions of dialysis, my still functioning transplanted
pancreas would certainly fail. Allowing my transplanted pancreas to fail
would cost the health authority more than investing in one session of
dialysis a week.
The health authority renal funding department and the diabetes department ran separate budgets, and the two departments did not communicate. I was refused my third session of dialysis. I had no choice but to go cap in hand, begging for my third dialysis session. My consultant in Cornwall, John Barnes donated a session to me last thing on a Friday night. So each week I drove 400 mile round trips to dialyse. But I was not prepared to sacrifice my precious transplant to petty red tape.
This proved to be a turning point in many ways for me. I realised that I had to start taking responsibility for my own future. We, you and I must not lose track of what is happening to our renal service. What we know is there is insufficient funding being ploughed into renal services to meet the predicted take on of ESRF patients over the next 10 years. You have to ask yourself, if sufficient money is not ploughed into renal services over the next 10 years, who has the most to lose? The politicians, or, us?
Please note, this page is a summary of the full conference speech (click here for the full transcript).
Dr
Robert Higgins - Blood Washing Of Antibodies
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