Dying for a Kidney

Help Save Lives by Signing this petition now!

Quick Facts

1 in 3 American adults are currently at risk for developing kidney disease.   The risk increases to 1 in 2 over the course of a lifetime.

An estimated 31 million people (10% of U.S. population) have chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Kidney disease is the 8th leading cause of death in the United States…killing over 90,000 Americans every year – more than breast and prostate cancer combined.

Every day 14 - 30 people die waiting for a kidney.

Primary Source: American Kidney Fund … http://www.kidneyfund.org/about-us/assets/pdfs/akf-kidneydiseasestatistics-2012.pdf

The End Result… End stage renal disease (ESRD) is the last stage of CKD

and is the time when dialysis or transplant is needed to stay alive.

Of 120,000 Americans currently on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant, more than 100,000 need a kidney (84%) but fewer than 17,000 people receive one each year.

Approximately 430,000 Americans are currently on dialysis. Without a transplant, they have an average life expectancy of about five years. The longer they are on dialysis…the less likely a subsequent transplant will be successful.

Approximately 185,000 lucky individuals are alive today thanks to receiving a functioning kidney transplant.

Dialysis only performs about 10% of the work done by a functioning kidney

Dialysis can frequently cause other complications – anemia, bone disease, high blood pressure, heart disease, nerve damage and/or infection

Studies show that the longer a patient is on dialysis…the weaker they become and the more likely an eventual kidney transplant will fail

Average Life Expectancy for a patient on dialysis is five years

http://www.bidmc.org/Centers-and-Departments/Departments/Transplant-Institute/Kidney/The-Benefits-of-Transplant-versus-Dialysis.aspx

No one lives forever…but if you have a terminal kidney disease, a transplant is your best chance for survival and to lead a normal life

Transplant patients can expect to add 8-20 years to their life span

Patients who receive a kidney transplant BEFORE dialysis can expect to live 10-15 years longer than if they relied on dialysis only

Adults as old as 75 gain an average of four more years after a transplant than if they had relied only on dialysis

Total transplant costs averaged over the remaining life of the patient are considerably lower than dialysis costs

http://www.bidmc.org/Centers-and-Departments/Departments/Transplant-Institute/Kidney/The-Benefits-of-Transplant-versus-Dialysis.aspx

A kidney transplant is usually a better option than dialysis. A deceased organ transplant can be a life-saving event.

It will improve the recipient’s quality of life as well as extend their expected lifetime.

Persons who have had to wait for a transplant on dialysis for two years are THREE TIMES more likely to lose their transplanted kidney than those patients who had to wait less than 6 months on dialysis. Time is of the essence.

Living Donor Transplant Recipients tend to live longer than those persons receiving a deceased donor transplant.

Having a family member or friend donating a kidney in your behalf may allow you to avoid the wait list …this has two advantages Having surgery sooner than later improves your success rate Avoiding dialysis also improves your success rate

Having a living donor kidney volunteer (even if not a match for you) could enable you to benefit from a kidney chain swap

106,566 Candidates On Kidney Wait List – 2013 Outcomes…

2013 Kidney Transplant Facts• Deceased Donors

– 11,161 kidneys from 7,546 actual donors

– 1.48 kidney per donor

– Over 100 Million citizens registered as organ donor candidates

– Of 2.5 million who died in 2013…less than 1% became an actual deceased organ donor!

• Living Donors– 5,733 kidneys– 83% donations from

family/spouse/friend– 60% Male/40%

Female– 50% Age 50 & up– Living donor trend

has declined over last 8 years even though some states offer tax credits/deductions or leave of absence

Let’s Declare War on Kidney Disease!

Years Major War U.S. Deaths1917 - 1918 World War I 116,516

1941 - 1945 World War II 405,399

1950 - 1953 Korean War 36,516

1955 - 1975 Vietnam War 58,209

2001 - Present Iraq / Afghanistan 6,717

623,357

3 Times Higher than all U.S. War Deaths in last 100 years!

1980 - Present

War on Kidney Disease 1,900,992

Sources: http://www.usrds.org/2013/ref/H_mortality_13.xls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

Organ Gap Waiting List Grows

We Have A Great Medical Staff …• 235+ U.S. Hospitals perform Kidney

transplants• Kidney transplant is one of the most cost-

effective surgery interventions available• Primary Medicare Cost for transplant

through one year post-transplant is comparable to one year cost of dialysis

• Our hospitals are operating UNDER capacity…they need MORE organ donors!

No Shortage of Valuable Resources

Best Network of Support Organizations Anywhere

• The U.S. has the infrastructure and the staff and the capacity to perform all of the transplants needed

• We continue to make medical advances in our procedures and techniques

• We fail, however, in having an adequate supply of organ transplant volunteer donors (both living and deceased)!

PLEASE sign this petition to explore ways that we can compensate eligible living donors to save

lives and help curb our “out-of-control” healthcare costs.

Click Here to Sign Petition

Kidney transplants and dialysis treatments are not cheap…but the alternative is usually an early death to a loved one or friend…the choice is yours…please vote.

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