Drive for Five: Urban versus Rural

A LinkedIn message for the "Drive for Five" Network caught my attention. A woman is trying to support a nephew. Despite being young and vibrant, this bundle of potential has a rare kidney disease and needs a transplant. My response surprised your scribe: “Keep me posted. I want to advocate. It's important to me to improve this system. There's plenty of room!”

Yes there is. Clearing obstacles to encouraging more live organ donation are certainly possible and within the realm of common sense. I say this constantly. If our country is willing to give tax breaks for solar panels and electric vehicles? PAY cash to citizens willing to donate sperm, fertilized eggs and plasma? And WILL NOT offer a $50,000 tax credit, spread over five years, to angels in our midst willing to share their spare and save a life? That’s CRAZY. Wanna learn more? https://www.modifynota.org

The organ transplant world has much room for improvement internally but, come on, better legislative polices at the state and federal levels would certainly help. We’ve got 90,000 folks on wait lists, many die on wait lists, 80% of donors these days are deceased. Kidney not as good as live donation. It’s just a fact. It’s the mission of the DFF Network. Inspire. Advocate. Educate.

Another area that certainly needs room for improvement? The disparity between the care provided in urban centers versus rural. Your 66-year-old dude is now in the second month of recovery. Numbers looking good. As written before, there’s been hiccups but feeling good and becoming more active. A guy can only write so much. The Missouri native needs to get out and take action. Service energizes me.

Anyway, coming off the annual Vail weekend with family and friends to celebrate our nation’s birth and one another. It’s a fantastic clan. The dinner parties are legendary. We’ll have 15-20 gather to enjoy yummy dinners and play games afterward. Wonderful. I can’t cook a lick. Don’t even try. But the inner circle? 5-Star quality. Nightly somebody cooks a dish. Son Kyle’s lamb ragu was popular but finished second to the 34-year-old’s cheese cake. OFF THE CHARTS!.

Vail in the summer time? Ain’t nothing better. Your correspondent wrote last week that DFF’s goal is to have a float in next year’s Vail patriotic parade. DFF ambassador Jeff Blumenfeld fired off on LinkedIn, “I wanna be on that float next year.” Of course.

Okay, I’m veering. Back to the “plenty of room for improvement” theme. You know from previous reports, keeping track of meds is tricky. Lots of calls to change meds and dosages. There’s lots of audibles called.

I goofed big time and instead of switching, inadvertently, took both out of rotation. Duh. This knucklehead didn’t take a crucial anti-rejection medication for probably a week. No wonder a critical marker - creatinine - was rising to flashing yellow. Docs ordered a kidney biopsy. Nothing troublesome but something to keep an eye on. Well, guess what? This jacked up dude starts taking that medication again? Numbers headed back in right direction. I’m coachable but need supervision.

I’m in Vail and don’t have a critical medication, called five Vail Valley pharmacists, nobody carried it. What to do? Drive back to Denver and pick up the med at AdventHealth Porter, site of a fantastic transplant team who changed my life forever thanks to an absolute gem who shared their spare and save my life. Really? Gotta go that far to get critical resources? Luckily, daughter of another couple was coming from Denver and grabbed, “Uncle Mac’s” drugs.

This woman featured in picture? Rural Vail Valley resident, Veronica is the 45-year-old mom to Jessica (with me in cover picture) and received a kidney seven months ago. This beautiful soul was born with just one kidney and has battled kidney disease requiring dialysis for seven years. Finally got a transplant. In Denver. Vail Valley has no transplant center. People suffering end-stage renal disease sometimes have to travel many miles, missing time at work to make this effort work. I got lucky. America’s rural communities ain’t so fortunate.

There’s always room for improvement The care and resources necessary in rural areas is a big one and DFF supports efforts to make it more equitable. Amazing folks like Veronica would sure benefit.