Damon Brown and Darren Patillo have a lot in common. The two Seattle area residents have battled kidney disease since they were young and are now doing well, thanks to kidney transplants.
Both are family men with young children. Both hold professional jobs. And both will tell their stories at Northwest Kidney Centers. Kidney Health Fest for African American Families on June 2. They’ll speak in the morning educational program at the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Van Asselt Elementary, 8311 Beacon Ave. S., Seattle.
They’ll talk about how they learned they had kidney disease, what they’ve gone through to stay alive and healthy since their kidneys failed, and how they found their kidney donors. They will offer advice to other African Americans who may or may not know their kidneys are at risk.
While 1 in 7 American adults has kidney disease, the number increases four-fold for the African American community. African American men are 10 to 14 times more likely to develop kidney failure due to high blood pressure than Caucasian men in the same age group.
Here are Brown’s and Patillo’s stories, in anticipation of their appearance at the Kidney Health Fest for African American Families.
Today I can finally report that I am brand new, renovated and updated, Damon Brown posted on his Facebook page May 7. That was four months and four days since the Garfield High School graduate received a new kidney in a very public way. It was public because Brown found his donor after a search on Facebook that was widely covered by the news media. In fact, the story went around the world.
Brown received the transplant his second on Jan. 3, 2012, from a friend of his wife who saw his Facebook request. He had dozens of queries from people interested in donating and the friend’s kidney provided the best match.
Brown’s recovery took many twists and turns and wasn’t easy. But the Columbia City resident has stabilized and is looking good. He is back at work as a web designer at Cobalt and is feeling strong.
Brown’s story with kidney disease began about 11 years ago when he first learned his kidneys were failing. They never found a reason for the disease, he said. Either hypertension caused my kidneys to fail or my kidneys caused the hypertension.
Brown was 26 years old and otherwise healthy. While working at Virginia Mason Medical Center, he was in a class learning to take blood pressure and other vitals. The teacher checked my blood pressure and it was sky high, said Brown. He was immediately referred to a nephrologist. The kidney doctor told him he needed a transplant and had to go on dialysis until the transplant could be arranged.
Brown received dialysis treatments three times a week at Northwest Kidney Centers until his father donated a kidney in 1999. That organ lasted about 10 years and then failed. In 2010, after going back on dialysis this time giving himself the treatments at home with backup from the dialysis organization Brown launched his Facebook campaign to find a new kidney. Now that I have my new kidney, I have the energy to keep up with my wife and two young boys, he said.
Darren Patillo’s story can be traced to family history an unlucky inheritance that’s fairly common. His father also had kidney failure, and he ultimately received a kidney from his sister. I inherited the same thing that caused my father’s kidney failure, but unfortunately I don’t have healthy enough siblings to give me a kidney, said Patillo, who sells real estate.
By 2001, Patillo’s kidney condition had declined so much that he needed dialysis or a transplant to stay alive. He got dialysis at Northwest Kidney Centers’ Lake Washington Kidney Center in Bellevue for nine months, and then his wife’s best friend gave him one of her kidneys. It functioned for two years before his body rejected it.
After that, Patillo went back to Northwest Kidney Centers for dialysis. I decided to try going on home dialysis because it was hard to run my real estate business while going to the dialysis clinic three times a week. They told me that with home dialysis I would feel much better because I’d be doing treatments slower and for a longer amount of time, which was so true. I learned how to do home dialysis every night while I slept. It took some getting used to, he said. But what he really wanted and needed was another kidney transplant.
Finally, on Nov. 13, 2009, seven years to the day since his first kidney transplant, Patillo received a phone call alerting him that a kidney was available from a woman who had just died.
It wasn’t too soon. I had been getting weaker, and my business was suffering big time, Patillo said. The new kidney was transplanted the next day, and like Brown’s experience, Patillo’s condition took a while to stabilize.
Now, more than two years later, he is doing great. Not only do I have more time to practice as a professional Realtor and give my clients my utmost attention, but I am also able to spend valuable time with my wife and daughter, he said.
Attendees at the Kidney Health Fest will hear the patients stories first-hand, along with expert commentary from professionals addressing implications of kidney health on the mind, body and soul. Besides the educational program, the Fest will feature free health screenings, health exhibits, entertainment and healthy food samples made by local celebrity chefs. Fourteen local churches are co-hosts for the day.
Participants in the free kidney health screenings will learn how to improve their habits to avoid or ease kidney disease. The screening includes a blood pressure check, test for protein in a urine sample, a test for creatinine in a blood sample, and a private consultation with a doctor about the results. ~seattlemedium.com~
