World Kidney Day

Today, Kidney foundations around the world are marking World Kidney Day by raising awareness about the importance of early and comprehensive screening to combat kidney disease.  And special efforts will be made to educate people about the correlation between high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.

I am especially interested in participating in this awareness campaign not only because both of my parents died relatively young from kidney disease but also because my big brother, Christy, is now undergoing dialysis treatment to combat it.

We are suffering a pandemic of obesity… Therefore, I urge you to commit to annual physical exams – complete with tests for kidney disease, HIV and other STDs. And this applies especially to black men in Africa and the Caribbean where there seems to be a cultural belief that one visits the doctor only for emergency care. 

After all, I am a living example of the fact that, despite daily exercise and a healthy diet, we are all vulnerable to that silent killer – cholesterol.

[My New Year’s resolution: a final report, TIJ, January 2, 2009]

In fact, my brother’s condition is what inspired me to publish quarterly reports on my own health last year.  Specifically, I wanted to convey the need to supplement even exercise and a healthy diet with regular testing for silent killers like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. 

But I was ever mindful of Christy’s poignant admonition about the importance of screening for kidney disease, namely that:

Renal failure is a disease without early symptoms.  When your body lets you know there’s a problem, you would’ve already lost 80% of your kidney functions.

And I know that he would want me to use this World Kidney Day commentary to spread his informed admonition worldwide – especially throughout the Caribbean. 

But I would like to end by thanking all of the nurse practitioners at the Stephanie Williams Kidney Centre in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) for doing such a terrific job – with woefully limited resources – of administering Christy’s thrice-weekly dialysis treatment.

And I know that they would want me to encourage all TCIslanders to take advantage of free screenings for kidney disease, which are offered weekdays at their centre in Provo and in the dialysis unit of the hospital on Grand Turk.

NOTE: Unfortunately, neither the Stephanie Williams Kidney Centre nor the TCI Kidney Foundation is capable of accepting donations online.  Therefore, please use the “Donate now” feature on the website of the British Red Cross and, in the “Other additional comment” section, designate The Turks and Caicos Kidney Foundation as the beneficiary:  click here to donate

Thank you.

Related commentaries:
My 2008 New Year’s resolution: a final report