34 years—and counting—with a transplanted kidney

Joe and his sister Kathi. She donated a kidney that has lasted Joe 34 years. Joe Sullivan started gaining weight in the summer of 1978, when he was 17 years old. He put on 40 pounds—all water, but he didn’t know that. By October, the swelling in his legs and ankles kept him out of school, and a tutor started coming to his house. Months passed. High doses of prednisone—the drug required to treat the swelling—kept him up at night, but, “presto magic,” recalls Joe, “I got better, went back to school and graduated with everyone in May. I didn’t understand what was going on. My parents weren’t the types to speak about it.” Joe started college that fall, hitchhiking the 32 miles between home and school. The semester went smoothly, and all seemed well until a couple of days after Christmas, when he was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital. He was diagnosed with nephritis, inflammation of the kidneys. Joe doesn’t remember much from that time. “Next thing I knew, I was on dialysis,” he says. “Soon I was going for five hours per day, three days per week. I was so sick. I weighed about 80 pounds. I had to pretty much stay in the hospital.” That dialysis schedule continued for more than six months, until Joe learned he was eligible for a kidney transplant. “I was lucky,” he says. “My older sister Kathi was such a good donor match that the doctors said we were practically identical twin...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our patients’ stories kidney transplant Source Type: news