LIHUE — On Valentine’s Day in 1995 Sandy Webster received her second kidney transplant. “He was my second donor,” Sandy said Thursday while waiting on a proclamation celebrating World Kidney Day. Sandy was 12 years old when she received her
LIHUE — On Valentine’s Day in 1995 Sandy Webster received her second kidney transplant.
“He was my second donor,” Sandy said Thursday while waiting on a proclamation celebrating World Kidney Day.
Sandy was 12 years old when she received her first transplant from her father in 1977.
“Following about 20 years of good life, I had to have another transplant,” she said.
Sandy, who has been married for 29 years, said she took on the cause of raising awareness of kidney disease and failures worldwide after getting her second transplant.
Nearly 27 million American adults have chronic kidney disease and millions more are at risk and don’t know it, states the proclamation issued by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.
It is estimated that 162,000 individuals in Hawaii are affected by chronic kidney disease and another 1 in 3 are at risk, according to statistics from the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii.
“I just want people to become aware of kidney disease,” Sandy said. “A lot of people who have kidney disease can trace it back to their diet, and a lot of people wait until they get symptoms before visiting the doctor.”
More than 562,000 Americans are currently receiving treatment for kidney failure, including more than 367,000 dialysis patients and 158,000 people with functioning kidney transplants.
In Hawaii, kidney failure rates are 30 percent higher than the national average. Of the more than 105,000 Americans currently awaiting organ transplants, 98,000 are waiting for a kidney which includes 450 patients in Hawaii.
The National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii futher states that each year, more than 87,000 Americans die from causes related to kidney failure, and more than 3,300 individuals in Hawaii are on dialysis.
“Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading contributing factors for kidney problems,” Sandy said.
March 13 is observed as World Kidney Day, and the entire month of March is celebrated as Kidney Month.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
