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weekender february 28 1987 p23 local kidney sufferers seek support by bruce etheridge dr derek shilletto of unionvil- le a recent kidney transplant re cipient is emphatic about the need to continue research rejection is still a major prob lem dr shilletto said he has suffered three episodes of rejec tion one forcing him back into hospital since receiving the organ last october a lot more research is needed to prevent such episodes he said because the trauma of each bout of rejection can seriously damage the organ dr shilletto said that despite the organ he received being a good match rejection problems are quite common especially in the first year and recipients must take antirejection drugs for the rest of their lives but the drugs often cause se rious side effects themselves markham resident gar bennett has been undergoing dialysis for almost two years now but he has been reluctant to apply for a kid- ney transplant because anti- rejection drugs cause him to de velop diabetes dr shilletto added that more research is also needed to perfect the surgical procedure after ini tial surgery he was returned to the operating table the next day in an effort to improve the kidneys functioning many people are under the mis conception kidney transplants have become so routine that there is no longer a need to sink a lot of money into reseach but accord ing to members of the kidney foundation medical profession and transplant recipients no thing could be further from the truth the local kidney foundation is hoping to raise 41000 during the march fundraising campaign kicked off last wednesday at but- tonville airport janet bick is vicepresident of the toronto and district chapter of the canadian kidney founda tion and a transplant recipient herself she said research into the causes and treatments of kidney disease must be continued so that organ transplants the last resort as a form of therapy can be avoided kidney transplants are not a cure only a treatment she said prolonging the period a person can remain on dialysis before re quiring a transplant and ways to shorten the duration of dialysis treatments also need to be de veloped mrs bick said on average patients must be hooked up to a machine from four to six hours a session three times a week those like mr bennett with out home dialysis machines must travel to toronto to undergo treat ment there are no kidney dialy sis machines at hospitals in york region or any of the surrounding areas of metropolitian toronto for mr bennett and his wife that means another three hours in travelling time on top of the four hours he spends on dialysis mrs bick added that to keep a person on dialysis is an expensive procedure and increased re search could save canadians a good deal of money in health care costs it is very costly to health care system she said according to mrs bick the average cost for inhospital hemo dialysis treat ment is 115000 per patient per year home dialysis costs the health care system 24000 per year the money donated to the kid ney foundation goes to support pa tient services in the local area to research and public education programs the kidney foundation spent 85000 on patient services and public education programs in i1985 patient services not only in- osmukp t dcteccqvupkcp- vered by ohip but also provides special services as well because kidney patients are restricted to dialysis machines every other day the opportunity for travel is very limited but the kidney foundation has set up two summer camps one for families and one for children that have di alysis facilities costs to the kidney foundation for example are 300 per week to sponsor a single family last year 37 families were given the chance to away for a twoweek vacation and dorothy bennett gars wife said people cant imagine what it means for a kidney patient to be able to get away for a while another problem that has arisen is the lack of available organs while the need for kidney transplants has steadly increased each year in 1983 there were 936 needy re cipients and 649 transplants done in 1985 2500 people were on wait ing lists but only 630 organs were available mrs bick says statistics show the majority of people are in favor of organ donations she believes the problem is that not enough doctors are asking for organs when the opportunity arises but according to dr shilletto doctors are often put in an uncom fortable position when having to ask for organ donations he says people need to fill out organ donor cards and families need to discuss the situation before hand it makes it easier for doctors to approach a family and easier on the family he said because people can function quite well on one kidney each donor benifits two people although it is very tragic that someone has died other people like me are very grateful when they or their families donate organs dr shilletto said according to dr shilletto kid- ney patients on dialysis need not stop working dorothy and gar bennett 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