Steven Poole
On Nov. 7 of 2022, went to the hospital, and an hour later, I was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure.
Gina Poole
The doctors believe it was likely caused by 20 plus years of undiagnosed, uncontrolled high blood pressure. Since Steve hadn't had annual checkups, no one knew.
Steven Poole
That is something I do regret. I wish I could go back and get checkups yearly. My life went completely south. Everything I had done prior, I ceased doing. I was hospitalized in ICU for — I don't even know how long — it was a blur. The pain was just something I wasn't prepared for.
I eventually got healthy enough to go home, and I was placed on dialysis. I was unable to hike, help around the house, was unable to work. I actually had to learn to walk again. When I was diagnosed, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It was the last thing in the world I ever expected to hear. I have been healthy my whole life.
Gina Poole
Steve has always been a powerhouse. He's the kind of person who jumps out of bed singing for over 20 years. He never took a sick day. In early 2022, that started to change. He lost nearly 80 pounds, and he looked skeletal. It wasn't until I attended my uncle's funeral that things hit home for me. My cousin showed me a photo of my uncle shortly before he passed, and he looked just like Steve, and I was horrified. And when I got home, I scheduled a doctor's appointment for Steve myself. He didn't want to go, but I insisted, and I took him.
Steven Poole
The hardest part for me is having to watch how it affects the people around me, my family, my wife, especially.
Gina Poole
Steve's illness has impacted our whole family. We're always watching the clock: when he needs to eat, when he needs to be home to set up for dialysis. As his primary caregiver and advocate. I manage his appointments. I go with him to every visit.
Steven Poole
It's just hard to see other people having to pick up your slack when you're used to being the one doing it. Dialysis, to be quite frank, is a pain in the a**, but it is my life support system, so I'm thankful that it's there. If I'm not mistaken, it only came about in 1943. I hook up and I do it seven days a week for eight hours a night. It can wipe you out. It's like everything, good days, bad days.
Gina Poole
Also, our house is completely full of dialysis supplies everywhere.
Steven Poole
My bedroom looks like a hospital room. Now I'm on a deceased donor list. If I get the call, I have five hours to be to Salt Lake, and it's about a five hour drive. It's going to be a rush, rush, rush. 24/7 I have to listen to the phone. If I can get a living donor, the outcome of the surgery is better. It'll last longer. We can plan better. We don't have to just rush.
How do you maintain hope in this situation? Well, I got accepted into GiftWorks. I think it's a great program. I saw a bumper sticker driving down the highway, and I leaned out the window and yelled at the young lady, and she told me where to go, and we went from there.
Gina Poole
The first year of treatment, you're just working towards getting on the transplant list, and there's so many things that you have to do to get on the list. And then once you make the list, you just wait and you wait and you wait and you wait, and there's nothing to do. With GiftWorks—
Steven Poole
You're always engaged in trying to find a living donor, and it makes you feel like you're not doing it alone. I just want to get back to living a normal life. Kidney Disease is so involving. It eats your soul.
If you're worried about leaving a legacy, your children, your grandchildren, donating an organ to another human being — the impact you would have on them, to show what it is to be open and just caring for another human being, it's the greatest thing you can do.
Gina Poole
From my perspective, a transplant isn't a cure, it's just another treatment, but it would give Steve a better quality of life.
Steven Poole
After you get a transplant, there's a lot of time going to the doctor and getting your drugs adjusted, and you're sick. I actually work with a gentleman who's kidney recipient, and the first thing I asked him, "Is it worth it?" And I can't repeat what he said, but it was "yes."
