Who can ever say, “I expected my kidneys to fail.”
So I least expected that my life would change… say in the next few days. It started in 2012. I had lost my kidney functions completely and needed to start dialysis soon. No time to assimilate, think, wonder, plan and slowly I was moving around getting tests done and getting ready mentally to be connected to a machine to purify my blood. Dialysis. The initial shock of the disease led to lots of physical and mental adjustments leading to many financial implications.
I had been working with the Taj Hotels & Resorts Group as a Spa Therapist. It was a job that simply matched my personality. I enjoyed the job, people loved and respected me and money was coming in. Life was wonderful in an upward mode. “What next?” I often asked myself.
But overnight, everything came tumbling down. Now such happiness was a distant past; a dream-life that will go down in my history.Kidney failure had brought about many changes in my life. My attitude towards life changed seeing the harsh realities of life, the truth about life that one loses so much of one’s life just in a single stroke. Times with friends changed as now friends were people involved with kidney disease. The physical condition had changed. And yes, the financial status.
With dialysis, I had kept busy pursuing small free-lance jobs while I managed to get some benefits for dialysis. Gradually, through the time spent alone on the hospital bed, my mind kept churning out thoughts, ideas and aspirations. Apart from thinking of earning revenues, it went into what needed to be done to raise awareness.
In Kerala, there was no problem. Lots were happening. Live donor transplants were quite easily accepted. The country was seeing changes. GREEN corridors were used to reach organs fast. Cadaver transplants were happening. People will be willing to donate as many are donating blood. It is a change that will happen gradually, but we must create the awareness.
With such a determination I decided to work for the community to bring changes in lives of kidney patients.
Due to work, I moved to Mangalore.
Opportunity to work for kidney patients soon opened up as I met some nephrologists who were planning to form a Trust. I got involved with them during the formation of the Kidney Patient Association, Mangalore. I was appointed as a Joint Secretary. I became active and contributed towards planning many events related to organ donations.
Life is beyond dialysis. It’s about spreading information. There’s never turning back.
Courtesy:
www.kidneywarriors.org
(A special Thanks to
Mrs Vasundhara Raghavan for being an inspiration and guiding us in our war against Kidney disease)
The first time, deepest secrets of kidney disease revealed.
