She is tough indeed. Kidney failure is not easy at all and when you add it with lupus then it makes it 100 times more harder.
My friend was diagnosed with Kidney failure in January 2008. It was devastating and shocking. He had to start his dialysis at least 3 times a week at a cost of Ksh 10,000 a session. Sometimes he would need some medicines to add his blood count which would cost him an additional Ksh 5000. in addition he had to watch what he ate completely because some stuff would make him really sick.
He started out his treatment at Kenyatta because that is where they understand the disease fully. Unfortunately the dialysis machines are few and sometimes you would have to wait for up to 2 days just to get a machine. And don't get me started on the nurses. In addition, you would have to go and buy all the stuff needed for the process e.g special kind of water, syringes etc etc from medical depot in Industrial Area. You can imagine the hustle!!! We would watch people die as they waited for a machine to be free. Totally devastating. We met a young girl who got kidney failure because her stupid boyfriend took her for an abortion in the backstreets(story for another day).
He was eventually stabilized and moved his dialysis sessions to Mater where the machines are more and service is reliable. Finally, he has gotten a kidney donor and will be traveling to India on the 4th of June for his transplant.
The unfortunate thing about Kidney Failure and lupus is that the Kidney's are eventually rejected once a transplant is done. Lupus makes the body see the new kidney as a foreign object and thus produces bodies and cells to fight it thus the kidney is rejected. That is why Lorna has had so many transplants. She may eventually have to live on dialysis if the kidney is rejected again. It is really bad. Lucky for her, her family has been extra supportive and that is just priceless.
My friend lacks family support. In fact, all his family members refused to give him their kidneys. His father finally paid his youngest daughter and told her that he would open for her a cyber cafe. With that she accepted.
We are holding a harambee for him on the 29th of May at the professional Center. You are all welcome. Come and learn more about the disease and help even in the smallest way
. You can call him on 0721 599 007. He is called Mwangi