Patient Story - Everett

Everett watched his brother suffer from kidney disease for as long as he can remember. He saw his brother go to numerous doctors' appointments and take several different medications to treat his disease. Everett could never imagine one day the disease would hit him.

In 1983, when he was 17-years-old, Everett found out that the illness he'd been feeling was not a case of the flu but rather the result of a failing kidney due to high blood pressure. As opposed to his brother, doctors detected the disease when it was unfortunately too late to be treated with medications. The news came as a shock to Everett and his family, as he had always been very healthy and athletic.

Everett was lucky enough to receive kidney transplant, however it failed after three years. A second transplanted kidney failed almost immediately, forcing Everett to receive in-center dialysis treatments. Until very recently, Everett would travel 40 minutes to the center for the treatments that lasted anywhere from two to three and a half hours, three times a week.

Everett continued on the dialysis treatment but was unhappy with being tied to the center's schedule and spending so much time there. Of the rigorous in-center treatment schedule, he says "it began to feel like you were on an assembly line." He started researching new dialysis treatments. "I knew there had to be a better way," said Everett.

Everett came across a new treatment based on a portable hemodialysis machine that was being prescribed for patients to use in their home. Everett contacted a few local clinics and within months was enrolled in a study in California, going home with NxStage in early 2004.

Now Everett does his own hemodialysis at home six times a week. His mother is available in case of an emergency, and Everett does the treatment at a time each day that fits his schedule. "I work treatments into my life, not the other way around," he commented. NxStage has become seamlessly integrated into Everett's daily life and he feels much more independent.

Throughout the last four years, Everett's health has been better than ever and continues to improve. His high blood pressure went down when he started with the NxStage system, so much that he no longer takes the 4-5 blood pressure medications he once took. He looks better now and has more energy. Everett has even gone back to playing basketball; a sport he loved but hadn't played in years due to feeling fatigued while doing in-center dialysis treatments.

Everett is so happy that he wants other dialysis patients to know about this option. "Anybody who is on in-center dialysis now should consider this," he says of NxStage.

"I thought I was going to be 60 or 70-years-old still going to the clinic to get dialysis," said Everett. "The NxStage system gives me the freedom I wanted and control over my own treatment."

This patient has given NxStage Medical Inc. permission to share his/her experience with daily home therapy on the NxStage System One. The experiences reported by this patient will not necessarily be experienced by you. All patients differ and their experiences will vary.