José Lodge from Overlangel has only one kidney, and it is functioning increasingly poorly. Slowly but surely she becomes sicker and her world becomes smaller. A new kidney is vital. She thought she had found someone willing to help her, but at the last minute the donor withdrew. Now the 70-year-old is searching on Facebook for a new kidney.
José lives in a picturesque farm with a sweet dog and a beautiful garden with a greenhouse where the limes are still growing in abundance even in the middle of winter. She has enjoyed running her bed and breakfast here for many years.
She was born with one kidney, something that was discovered by chance when she was 6 years old. “It was actually something I never thought about, because I didn’t have any problems,” she says. “Until an attentive GP asked me if I knew the condition of that kidney. Examination in the hospital showed that it was only functioning at fifty percent.”
“Kidney failure actually gives you permanent blood poisoning.”
Although José lives as healthily as possible, carefully follows the doctors’ advice and takes fourteen tablets every day to support her kidney, its function is slowly but surely declining. “I’m currently around thirteen percent,” she says. “Kidney failure actually gives you permanent blood poisoning, because all the waste products just keep pumping around in your blood.”
She gradually gets more and more side effects. “I notice that my kidney is no longer working optimally. This manifests itself in poor sleep, waking up five times a night because you have to go to the toilet, nausea and headaches,” she summarizes. “But the most difficult thing is the woolliness in my head. I forget things, I no longer have a grip on them. Then I have to do something, but I can no longer organize how to go about it.”
“Everything takes me more and more time and effort.”
José was always an active person. She has traveled all over the world, gardened a lot, still walks her dog for hours and does volunteer work. But everything is crumbling. Soon she will stop running the bed and breakfast with pain in her heart. “It takes me more and more time and effort to keep everything tidy and receive guests. I will probably have to go on dialysis soon, and then it will no longer be possible.”
She would rather not think about the fact that she will soon have to go to the hospital three times a week for four hours to be connected to all kinds of tubes. “People over 65 who start dialysis, only half of them are still alive after five years,” she says somberly. “Because every dialysis is a blow to the vessels and the heart.”
“Then your world will fall apart.”
She was in shock when she thought she had found a new kidney, but the transplant was canceled at the last minute. “We had a match, the hospital tests were done, all the lights were green,” she says. “I was very happy, so happy. But on the eve of my operation, the donor withdrew. Then your world falls apart. It was pure panic, suddenly I was empty-handed again.”
Resilience kept her going. “I have continued my search. I have sent an email to all my friends, family, acquaintances and business associates and asked them if they would like to forward it to their own circle. Calls via Facebook, LinkedIn, I take advantage of everything. So far without results, but I’m not going to give up.”
“I’m an eternal optimist,” she smiles. ‘And it may sound a bit crazy, but I also believe in a kind of destiny. If there is anyone who would give me a kidney, he will stand up. And otherwise I just have to say: I’ve had a fantastic life.”
Anyone who thinks they can help José further can Email Omroep Brabant. We will then forward the message to her.
