Patient Spotlight
We are pleased to announce our new Patient Spotlight, where we highlight ordinary people who face every day with EXTRAORDINARY strength and courage.
Corey Winnie
Meet Corey Winnie. Corey is optimistic when it comes to dialysis, advocating for patients and educating those who don’t seem to know much about kidney disease or the dialysis process.
East Tennessee Kidney Foundation Inc.™ has helped Corey in covering travel costs through the Dianne Hagey Dialysis Transportation Program. “Insurance covers dialysis, but not wear and tear on a car. It has been nice to have help with that.”
As if dialyzing 15 hours a week wasn’t enough of a job for Corey, he also works 40 hours per week as a data entry manager at a local plastic factory. “It’s crazy how many people still work and have to go to dialysis.”
Corey’s kidneys failed in February 2019. He has a family history of polycystic kidney disease. “My family told me as a kid my kidneys might fail.”
Corey remembers what treatments were like for people in his family, “Treatments used to be 8 and a half hours when I was little.” Since then, treatment times have decreased significantly for dialysis patients.
Occasionally for some patients come challenges. For Corey, he has faced issues with his access point – the connection that allows the dialysis machine to access the bloodstream. “I had fistula surgery for the port to work properly and still have trouble taking the port.”
Though Corey faces issues with dialyzing, he still attends every treatment he is scheduled for. “[I look forward to] seeing other patients and staff, getting to know people I’m in here with every day. There are really kind people in chairs around me and I get to hear everyone’s story.”
Corey stresses the importance of never skipping a treatment. “Even leaving early or cutting treatments can add up. You end up with so much nasty stuff sitting in your body because your kidneys filter blood, extra fluid, and [if you skip treatment] the junk builds up. Leaving early can be detrimental. If you have to not be here, call to reschedule, come in another day, you need it.”
Samuel Pickle
Originally from Knoxville, Mr. Pickle has called Blount County home for the past eight years. Mr. Pickle was diagnosed with kidney failure in August 2021. “I was on the phone with a urologist and they told me to go to the ER immediately. It took until the morning for them to take me in to find out my kidneys were failing.”
Mr. Pickle arrives for dialysis treatment at 4:30 in the morning and gets home around 10, sometimes even 11 o’clock – three times per week. He considers skipping dialysis treatment often. “Every day you don’t want to come. You have to get up out of a deep sleep and you’re just so tired. You already know the outcome. You don’t come in here then leave feeling refreshed, you leave wanting to go back to sleep.”
“Dialysis takes up all your time. Physically, there is not enough time in the day. You leave here and you’re so tired and worn out, you end up sleeping and wanting to lay down.”
Mr. Pickle’s kidney failure has created various issues for him, including gastrointestinal and sleep disruption. “It has totally changed my life. [I’m] usually physically worn out or tired. I physically have pains from dialysis, my body hurts ten times more. It affects eating and sleeping habits. You have to be cognizant of what you eat or drink all the time.”
Day after day, Mr. Pickle waits as he remains on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. “[I] kind of start losing hope after a while, waiting for that call to get a kidney.”
Mr. Pickle wants more people to know the importance of dialysis. “Evidently it is the only thing that keeps us alive until we get a kidney.”
The funding from East Tennessee Kidney Foundation’s Dianne Hagey Dialysis Transportation Program has been a great help to Mr. Pickle in ensuring he attends his life-sustaining treatment.
“[The monthly] check is very helpful, I’m sure [East Tennessee Kidney Foundation is] doing the best they can. Most every month [the funding] is critical to get me here. Without it I wouldn’t be able to make it.”
