| – aspires to eventually become a doctorBy Sharman GraingerWhile many young men approaching adulthood are more focused on getting their “manly game on”, 18-year-old Carl Anthony Wilson is instead engaged in a fierce battle to save his life.Carl, a resident of 80 Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown, has been suffering from renal failure for the past two years, a condition that was first discovered by medical officials when he fell terribly ill. According to him, he cannot even recall what transpired that early morning, two years ago, but clearly remembers that he awoke a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).He was informed that his mother, Claudia Wither, was required to rush him to the hospital because of the illness he developed.“I don’t really know what happened because I was sleeping and nobody never really explain what happened to me to make her rush me to the hospital,” Carl recalled.Renal failure patient, Carl Anthony Wilson interacts with a nurse during a dialysis session last week.And while there are instances where renal failure is proven to be hereditary, in Carl’s case there is no evidence to suggest this. In fact, he disclosed that he is not aware of anyone in his family, neither on his mother nor father’s side, who had the disease.Renal failure, which is also known as kidney failure, is a medical condition whereby the kidneys are unable to perform the crucial function of filtering waste products from the blood. The condition could lend to acute kidney injury, a state which is said to be reversible with adequate treatment, or chronic kidney disease which, according to medical officials, is usually not reversible, but requires dialysis for the patient to remain healthy.Dialysis, which is regarded as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure, is characterised by a process where accumulated waste and excess water is removed from the blood.This process is often required throughout the lifetime of the patient unless the patient is able to undergo a kidney transplant.Carl, who went through his schooling without a single hint of renal failure, was at the age of 16 classified as a chronic case, a state of affairs which requires him to undergo dialysis at least twice weekly.According to the former Lodge Secondary School student, after initially being attended to at the GPHC,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, medical officials there informed his mother that he could be dialysed at the Doobay Renal Centre situated at 8-9 Courbane Park, Annandale, East Coast Demerara.The facility, which opened its doors two years ago, perhaps in time to cater to the then 16-year-old’s condition, is today offering its services to about 40 renal failure patients, including Carl, at the subsidised cost of $9,000 per dialysis session.And while Carl and his mother would like to classify the establishment of the facility as “divine intervention” as it was established just ahead of him being diagnosed, there are some medical officials who are convinced that dialysis alone may not be enough. In fact, there are some reports from medical officials that the young man may not be able to continue for much longer without a transplant.But although his mother is currently unable to finance a kidney transplant operation, she certainly is prepared to donate a kidney to the older of her two sons in hopes that he would be able to live a fulfilling.According to Carl, “my mother tell me sheself that she is going to give me a kidney…but the doctors and the nurses that does see me don’t really tell me about me condition…they rather talk to my mother and she does tell me after.”The young man who appears to be in no despair because of his condition, related that he is often comforted by the words of his mother “to believe in myself’.”Currently kidney transplants are being undertaken right here in Guyana at a private hospital at a reported cost of US$20,000 which by far exceeds the cost for the operation to be done overseas.But there may be some hope for Carl, and many other patients like himself, since moves are apace by officials of the Doobay Renal Centre to collaborate with the GPHC to offer free kidney transplant operations in the near future. Carl’s name is certainly prominent on the waiting list of persons who are expected to take advantage of this crucial avenue in the making.Though anxious for the day that he will be able to get a transplant and hopefully have a better chance of living a normal life, free of weekly dialysis, the young man is at the moment “chilling out.”He has a love for basketball and though he does not have the stamina to play a full game, he sure takes the time out every now and then to “shoot a few hoops.” And, of course, like any other young man, Carl doesn’t fail to turn on his male charm on the ladies. In his case though, the ladies are usually the nurses who assiduously attend to him on a weekly basis.Carl says he is able to make light of his situation since he has come to realise that “this is not the end of the world for me…All you got to do is give thanks to God for each day and I believe everything will be alright.”He confidently disclosed that after getting a transplant he will seek to pursue studies in medicine to enable him to become a doctor so that he too could eventually be able to help persons with daunting health conditions. |
