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QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019
Jamaica and Bayside patients on years-long donor list
BY MAX PARROTT
For 3 1/2 hours a day,
three times a week, Jamaica
resident Christopher
Caines receives dialysis at
a medical facility. He was
diagnosed with polycystic
kidney disease over four
years ago, and has been on
the waiting list for a kidney
transplant ever since.
In New York state,
for someone with type O
blood type — the one most
commonly associated
with kidney disease — it
can take from seven to
eight years to receive a
kidney donor.
The U.S. has an
epidemic of kidney disease.
High rates of obesity,
diabetes and hypertension
contribute to kidney
failure. About 80 percent
people on the waitlist for
an organ transplant in
the country are looking
for kidney. About 7
percent of the national
waitlist for organs–a
disproportionately high
level of the populace–are
located in New York City,
according to LiveOnNY.
There are about 8,000
people in this area waiting
for a kidney, while there
are only about 300 organ
donors each year, according
to Helen Irving, president
and CEO of the organ
procurement organizations
LiveOnNY and a former
clinical nurse.
Despite the odds, Caines
is hopeful that he will
climb to the top of the heap.
Not only is he on the list
in New York state, but in
Florida, too. Caines said
that he saves money so that
can travel down to Miami
regularly to renew his spot
on the transplant list in
that area as well.
In her role as CEO of
LiveOnNY, Irving said that
she advocates for people
not just to join the organ
donor registry, but also
considering whether they
would want to be a living
donor as well.
Bayside resident Stuart
Weiss is one patient hoping
to find such a donor. After
40 years of living diabetes,
he recently received the
news that he was going to
need a kidney transplant.
Since then he’s been
campaigning around the
area with flyers baring
his medical problems in
the hopes that he might
find someone who will
make the sacrifice to give
him a kidney.
“I’m putting flyers
into stores. I gotta get
the maximum amount of
people to be aware. Not only
me — I’m only one person,
but there are thousands
and thousands of people
that suffer from the same
thing,” said Weiss.
Caines and Weiss are
among the more than
113,000 people across the
country waiting for an
organ transplant. Kidney
disease is expensive. When
and if they do secure a
kidney transplants, the
men would incur the costs
of regular doctor visits and
anti-rejection medication.
While the expenses
are daunting, Irving said
that it’s actually cheaper
to actually cheaper to
the health care system to
give someone a transplant
rather than continue to
give them dialysis three
times a week.
“We’re actually costing
the healthcare system a
lot less money over time to
actually transplant as many
patients as we possibly can.
From an organ donation
perspective, those costs are
not borne by the patient,”
said Irving. “All of those
costs would be borne by
the patient’s insurance and
that also includes Medicare
and Medicaid.”
As of 2018, the total
Medicare spending on both
chronic kidney disease and
end-stage renal disease
patients was in excess of
$114 billion, according to
the United States Renal
Data System.
To reach Weiss about
becoming a donor, email
kidney2019@aol.com.
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by email at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2507.
Left: Stuart Weiss. Right: kidney transplant surgery. Flickr/Tareq Salahuddin
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