Kidney transplant recipient is living in ‘constant fear’

“Because I have had a kidney transplant there is a greater risk of getting something and if I was to get Covid-19, that’s it.

“I’m just always scared; you’re living with this constant fear that you could get it or what if my wife Margaret brought it in to the house from the shops?

“Because I do the dialysis at home, we would take in boxes of deliveries of fluids, but you would think what if it’s on a box that you’re taking in.”

In a letter sent to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD by the Irish Kidney Association (IKA) Chairperson Colin Mackenzie, which echoed statements by the American Society of Nephrology and British Transplantation Society, it stated that there is an “extremely high mortality rate” of 25 percent amongst renal patients.

The letter expanded to detail how the 4,800 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients in Ireland are in “grave danger” and requested that they “receive the highest possible priority” on the Covid-19 vaccine list.

Many CKD patients are currently placed 7th on the provisional priority list for the Covid-19 vaccine with the HSE’s National Renal Office and IKA calling for patients to receive the same priority allocation as nursing home residents.

John, who is chairperson of the IKA’s Dublin South Branch, believes a higher priority to get the vaccine would be more ethical because of the high mortality risk.

“I do think it’s unethical [the position that CKD patients are on the provisional priority list] because there is a 25 percent chance of dying,” says the Firhouse resident.

“Some Chronic Kidney Disease patients and people doing dialysis are extremely vulnerable.

“For us to get the vaccine would improve our quality of life considerably.

“Just not to have the fear that you could end up on a ventilator in hospital after getting Covid-19.

“A lot of people are living with that fear, but when there’s a 25 percent chance you will die it is terrifying.

“It should really be people that are compromised and extremely vulnerable because you really wouldn’t give somebody like me a chance of surviving if I got Covid, especially with the dialysis and cancer.”

John and Margaret have lived in Firhouse since 1983, when they bought their house for €29,500.

They originally met at the Leinster Cricket Club in Rathmines in 1979 and immediately clicked, eventually getting married in ’84.

Margaret has been on John’s journey every step of the way, with John admitting that he would be “totally lost without her” because of how much she helps him with his condition.

John was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease in 2007 after he suffered an internal bleed inside his colon, with the blood entering the kidney causing it to break down.

After a year on dialysis, he received a kidney transplant in 2009.

2,600 people are living with a functioning kidney transplant in Ireland, which places them on life-long immune-suppressant medication to stop the body from rejecting the transplanted organ.

But a side effect of this is that it lowers the body’s immune system, increasing a patient’s risk of infection.

John continued: “I started to feel really unwell and in 2017 I went for a check-up, they started to notice that the kidney was deteriorating.

“I had to go back on dialysis but I’m fortunate because I can do it at home.

“But in the meantime, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which means I can’t go on the transplant list.

“Kidneys are so rare and if you have cancer you can’t go on the transplant list, even if it has cleared you have to wait seven years.

“So, I’m stuck the way I am.

John concluded: “It’s been very tough the last year because people on dialysis or people with CKD have basically had to isolate ourselves the entire time.

“Getting this vaccine would be so vital for improving our quality of life.”

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