Patient Stories

Ella's Story

Ella is a current dialysis patient living in Toledo.  It took her a year to to get on dialysis because she didn't know where to go for treatment.  She also was unaware of the types of services that organizations such as the Kidney Foundation of Northwest Ohio (KFNWO) provide.  She has since received help from KFNWO through assistance with medication and transportation to and from dialysis.  "How could I live without the Kidney Foundation of Northwest Ohio?  I couldn't.  It really has made things better for me," says Ella. After her husband passed away, her income decreased significantly and the Kidney Foundation helped greatly. "I didn't know the Kidney Foundation did so much, it has made such a difference in my life" she said. 

Before going on dialysis, Ella worked as a surgical nurse for 21 years.  She loved her job and said, with a smile and wink,  "because the patients can't talk back".  She described her work in the medical field as "a beautiful experience".

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Joe’s Story

In order to protect the privacy of the patient, the patient will be referred to as “Joe” in this story. Joe was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease early in his adult life. He was fortunate to receive a kidney transplant after being on dialysis for a very brief period of time. Sadly, the transplant failed immediately and he has since had to be on dialysis for over 10 years. During Joe’s 10 years on dialysis he has gotten married and had two children. It has not been easy with today’s economy to support a family of four, and when you factor in having a chronic illness, and not being able to work to help provide for your family, it becomes even more of a challenge. Joe’s wife has always been able to work to help keep food on the table for their family, provide her husband with his much needed medications, and pay for his transportation to dialysis 3 times a week, until recently when she was laid off. Joe had to start making some very difficult decisions; do I buy food to feed my family or medication which I need to sustain my life?, do I buy all of my medication and miss some of my dialysis treatments? Or do I go to all of my dialysis treatments and go without some of my medications?. We can only hope that we are never faced with decisions of this magnitude. This is where the Kidney Foundation was able to uniquely rise to the occasion and provide Joe with assistance, which in turn helped his family as well. The Kidney Foundation provided Joe with transportation assistance to and from his life sustaining dialysis treatments, and also provided prescription medication assistance so he could maintain his disease. Joe has been able to attend all of his dialysis treatments and take all of his needed medications the last six months, which has allowed his family to have extra money to buy groceries.

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"The Kidney Foundation of NWO has been instrumental in assisting so many of our patients with obtaining medications and mileage reimbursement. For many of these patients, this extra money in their pockets goes toward feeding their families and paying bills. I cannot tell you how grateful our patients are for the Kidney Foundation and your programs. Thank you for always going the extra mile to help our patients!"

Alysia White MSW, LSW