Family makes it all worthwhile

Almost 19 years ago Barbara Jenkins wondered if she'd live out the year after being diagnosed with a debilitating kidney disease, but last week she was happily celebrating her 80th birthday with her "dialysis family" at Whangarei Hospital.

Barbara is the longest-serving dialysis patient at Whangarei Hospital and says being on the life-saving machine has meant she has lived to see things she once thought impossible.

It was 1991 when Barbara started feeling sick and she was later diagnosed with glomerulonephritis - a kidney disease where the part of the kidneys that helps filter waste and fluids from the blood is damaged - a condition that could have easily killed her.

In July 1993 she started kidney dialysis and on Thursday, surrounded by an 80th birthday party in full swing and the staff an other patients at Whangarei Hospital's Renal Dialysis Unit, said it was the best thing she could have done and had prolonged her life, while giving her a good quality of living.

She praises the staff at the unit and the other "renal family members" who receive dialysis for making her three times weekly treatments so much "fun".

And after all her time there she's affectionately known as the matriarch of the unit, happy to pass on advice and tips to those coming in for the first time.

"Some people think kidney dialysis is the end of their lives. But I want to tell them it isn't at all. I knew two people that were on dialysis when I started so I was pretty prepared," she said.

"Really dialysis has given me more time to spend with my family. I never thought I'd live to see my great-grandchildren, but I have. I've got nine of them and if it wasn't for dialysis I wouldn't have spent any time with them. I'd have missed all that enjoyment.

"This has enabled me to have nearly 19 years extra time on Earth and I've met some absolutely amazing people here. I never thought I'd see my 80th so to spend it here with all my renal family is wonderful."

Barbara is obviously well thought of by all at the unit judging by all the cards, bunches of flowers and birthday goodies surrounding her on Thursday.

She had a kidney transplant in 1996, but it failed after five years, so she accepts that dialysis three times a week is her only option, but she's not letting it hold her back.

"It doesn't mean you can't do other things and many people on dialysis continue to have jobs and live their lives around it. It's not the end of your life having dialysis. It could be just the start of another chapter," Barbara said.

"But you have got to obey the rules. The doctors and nurses know what they are talking about so you have to follow what they say.

"Dialysis is much better now than it was when I first started. The machines are much more advanced and the knowledge is far superior. At first it's really tough, but you will get over that."