Kidney Walk ambassador celebrates return to ‘normal’
Two years ago, Chatham’s Angela Stewart’s kidneys had turned her life upside down.
Stewart, who suffers from polycystic kidney disease (PKD), reached the point during the pandemic where her kidneys were threatening to shut down.
However, these days, she’s loving life.
The ambassador for the 2024 Kidney Walk, Stewart said her kidney issues began at a very young age; in fact, she was diagnosed with PKD at just two weeks of age.
But a strict diet, exercise and regular medical monitoring of her condition sent her into her 40s feeling well.
Until the bottom fell out.
“I was down to six-per-cent kidney function. I held on for a little over a year,” she said. “That was a painful year.”
PKD often leads to patients being put on dialysis. For Stewart, that’s where she ultimately headed until she could get a transplant.
Contracting Covid sent her into a downward health spiral.
“Pre-dialysis, I was pretty healthy,” she said. “When I caught Covid, that was it. I was soon getting an emergency dialysis catheter installed.”
She endured the regular dialysis treatments, and has extreme respect for people who undergo dialysis.
“Dialysis is horrible. It is three hours just staring at the clock just waiting for it to end,” she said of the filtering of the blood. “I was just exhausted and had muscle cramping trying to balance the potassium levels.”
She said during the dialysis she’d get up, go to work, come home for a nap at lunch, return to work, nap at her desk in the afternoon, head home, make dinner and go to bed.
But her nights would be interrupted by a half a dozen trips to the bathroom, as well as muscle cramping.
Stewart’s quest for a kidney on rather short notice was initially a struggle … until a familiar face stepped forward. Her father, Brad Stewart, ultimately was able to donate one of his kidneys.
Brad said it began with a phone call and progressed through medical forms meetings and finally a check to ensure compatibility.
“They wanted to make sure I was in perfect condition to be able to stand giving up a kidney,” he said.
It helped that Brad golfs multiple times a week and is an avid cyclist.
Finally, on July 20, 2022, Angela went in for surgery in London. It was a 12-hour procedure, but her enlarged kidneys were removed and she now sports an 11-inch scar and a smile in the aftermath.
Oh, and a healthy kidney donated by her father.
The transformation was fast.
“The next day, I went from the jaundiced colour to a bright pink. My new kidney worked right away,” she said. “I slowly got my body back. It’s unbelievable.”
Speaking of the results gets Brad choked up.
“The difference in Angie is absolutely phenomenal,” he said. “I had the advantage of knowing who the recipient is and I could see the result. That alone makes it worth it. It’s quite the thing.”
Angela readily shares her story in the hopes it will help others.
“We live in such a world where everything is so negative. If I tell this story, I think people will say, ‘Thank you for sharing,’” she said.
Brad encourages other people to get checked to see if they’d qualify to be a donor.
“Being a donor, it really doesn’t affect you,” he said. “They wouldn’t proceed if they were going to do any harm to the recipient.”
Angela has seen that the need is great in Ontario in terms of support for the Kidney Foundation of Canada. She said dialysis centres across the province are “swamped. They’re at capacity.”
She initially had to drive to London to receive treatment until a spot opened up in Chatham.
This year, the Kidney Walk will take place Sept. 7 in Kingston Park. It’s the first walk since the pandemic.
Angela is the ambassador and her fundraising efforts are underway. But she’d also like to see more people from outside of Chatham become involved. As ambassador she said she plans to reach out to people in every community across the municipality.
“We want to make it more inclusive. I think people appreciate that,” she said.
For more information on the walk, visit akaraisin.com.
