Kidney Friends

Kelsey Crider, 19, of Boulder was diagnosed with kidney failure when she was 17.

BOULDER — Twice in one year Kelsey Crider walked out the door, believing she’d never return. Both times, failed kidney transplants sent the Boulder teen back to the dialysis center for treatments.

Three times a week, Kelsey sits in a chair for four hours at the DaVita Boulder Dialysis Center, hooked up to needles and tubes attached to a machine that filters impurities from her blood and removes excess fluid. Sometimes the Front Range Community College student does homework. Other times she reads, talks to her mother or watches television.

“It’s so boring,” said Kelsey, 19, who has had seven surgeries since being diagnosed with medullary cystic kidney disease. “I get antsy.”

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BACKGROUND: End-stage renal disease is another name for kidney failure that is so advanced it can’t be reversed. There are only two treatment options for patients experiencing end-stage renal failure — dialysis or transplantation. The national kidney foundation estimates that about 350,000 people in the U.S. have end stage renal disease and about 67,000 people die of kidney failure each year. If a patient opts to have dialysis it may impose invasive limitations on his or her lifestyle because of the rigorous schedule, diet and side effects that accompany the treatment. A successful kidney transplant provides a better quality of life because it allows greater freedom and often is associated with increased energy levels and a less restricted diet. There are two types of kidney transplants, one that uses a kidney from a living donor, and one that used a kidney from a deceased donor. Because of a shortage of donor kidneys, each year only a small percentage of people who need a transplant actually receive a kidney. The wait for a donor kidney can take years.

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