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Western PA Kidney Support Groups Featured in Post-Gazette

Posted by Robb Wilson on February 5, 2012 at 6:15 PM

Support groups a welcome part of kidney patients' new livesSunday, October 09, 2011By Sean D. Hamill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In the two months since he began dialysis after his kidneys began to fail, Michael Quinn thought there must be something wrong with him.The Sutersville man has experienced shortness of breath, severe cramping in his legs and generally feels "wiped out" after the sessions, which remove the waste from his blood three times a week, three hours a day.

"It's been a really bad experience," said Mr. Quinn, 56, a registered nurse.

Worse than that, his wife, Tina, said, he has felt depressed by it all because "he's felt like he was the only one" who went through it.

A neighbor pointed him to the Western Pennsylvania Kidney Support Groups, an organization that strives to bring together some of the more than 10,000 people in the region who are on dialysis, are kidney transplant recipients, living donors, or their caregivers, to talk about the common experiences they share.

"The idea is to tell our stories to each other," said Jack Silverstein, 64, a kidney transplant patient from Monroeville and one of the main organizers of the group. "It can be tough for other people to relate. Not everyone has been near death like we have."

From its origin over a decade ago, the group has evolved into five chapters -- Pittsburgh West, Pittsburgh East, Westmoreland County, South Hills and a pediatric group -- with nearly 300 members and a growing demand for more groups.

"We could start two or three new groups tomorrow if I could find some willing leaders," Mr. Silverstein said.

The group's most recently created chapter is in the South Hills, meeting once a month at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Jefferson Hills, about a 15-minute drive from the Quinns' home in Westmoreland County.