The CDC estimates that 1 in 7 adults have chronic kidney disease. In Virginia, there are currently over 2,300 people on the state’s waitlist for a kidney transplant. Carilion Clinic said the need for kidney transplants will increase by nearly 35% over the next five years in our region.
Yet, the nearest transplant center is at least a two-hour drive away. For others in Southwest Virginia, the drive time can be longer, especially in parts of the New River Valley. Carilion is trying to change that and is working to open a kidney transplant center in Roanoke.
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As a system, Carilion has nearly 40,000 patients with chronic kidney disease, more than 5,000 of whom are approaching or experiencing renal failure.
28-year-old Joey Shervey of Franklin County is one of those patients. He was diagnosed with stage 5 renal failure in 2022 when he was only 26 years old. He had no warning or family history. He found out soon after he went to the doctor for what he thought was only a sinus infection.
“It honestly was a shock. It’s halting your entire life, especially for us being so young,” Joey said, referencing himself and his wife Jessica. “I was just starting to climb my life and get ready to support my future wife at the time. It was a sudden halt.”
“It was very scary when he gave me the call, I said ‘What is this going to entail do you need dialysis right away? What are the steps we are going to take to try to beat this?’” Those steps turned into miles and miles, constantly driving a four-hour round trip to UVA Medical Center in Charlottesville.
Joey needed a new kidney. UVA is the closest option.
Since then, he has started at-home dialysis treatment. He does dialysis 3 times a day, every 6 hours. Each treatment takes about an hour. His room is filled with boxes of bagged saline and medical equipment that go with him everywhere. The treatment is daunting enough. The travel is an added exhaustion.
Joey went on a waitlist for a deceased donor.
“While you are waiting on the deceased donor, if you were to get that call, you are expected to get there pretty, much right away. So, you have to drop whatever you are doing and make that two-hour trip to get ready for that kidney. The two-hour drive time factors into a lot. It’s exhausting and he is going to have to go post-transplant too,” Jessica said. Miraculously, Joey found a living donor. A complete stranger from New York donated her kidney to Joey. It’s a rare gift that many aren’t lucky enough to find.
At the time of our interview, he was just days away from receiving his transplant.
“It will allow me to go from about 20 percent lifestyle back to about 90 percent,” Joey said. Thankfully, the surgery was a success and Joey is doing well. He is forever grateful to the stranger who made the lifesaving donation.
But, those long drives to UVA aren’t over. “For me being so young I will need multiple transplants in my life. this isn’t a permanent thing,” Joey said. While he is happy with his care at UVA, the drive times are too much. “To have a full day of maybe five 6 hours of tests. speaking to so many doctors. having so much information crammed into your brain and then making that two-hour trip back it’s incredibly exhausting,” Joey said. Joey wants to get back to work. These newlyweds want to begin their life. While they’ve accepted doctors’ visits will be part of that, they want treatment closer to home, cutting long drive times and hotel stays out of their wellness plan. “If anyone could have it closer to home, closer to their support system, their place of strength it would take so much weight off of their mind just to be able to make a quick trip to Roanoke.” That could become a reality. Carilion Clinic has filed a certificate of public need application to bring kidney transplant services to southwest Virginia at their flagship hospital at Roanoke Memorial. “It would be absolutely amazing,” Joey said. “From the caregiver standpoint, if complications arise you are closer to that place where he needs to be if something were to happen,” Jessica said.
Though Carilion is willing and able to open the transplant center, ultimately the decision must be approved by the Virginia Department of Health.
For people like the Shervey’s, the decision is a no-brainer.
“I definitely think it’s a yes. There are thousands of people just in our area with kidney failure. Not just for us, but for those people as well. They need it. They need that support. They need that program here and I think that would be beneficial for so many people in our region.
In order for this kidney transplant center to be approved by the Virginia Department of Health, Carilion must prove a need, and show public support.
You can write a letter to help the cause here.