Transplant recipient becomes advocate for kidney health

Dinorah Arambula didn’t take charge of her health in the ’90s, and it badly damaged her kidneys.

The reasons she neglected her health seemed reasonable at the time: With a failing marriage, a teenage daughter who needs direction and a long-hours, low-paying laundry job without health insurance, going to the doctor for a physical usually isn’t the first, or even the 10th thing, she thought about.

“I was in my 30s and playing soccer regularly so I figured I was in pretty good shape,” she said.

Arambula, 54, is rarely without a smile, except when she talks about what led her to kidney failure.

“I did go to the doctor for specific problems, gout and acne, but not an appointment where they really checked me out,” says Arambula, who now works at Walmart. “I had a tight budget.”

Recognizing she was stressed out, Arambula did occasionally check her blood pressure at drug stores with monitors.

It was high, not the recommended 120 over 80 for sure, more like 145 over 115 and higher, but she convinced herself it was just temporary. With a better job and divorce, she’d mellow out and her blood pressure would drop.

But then in 1999, after suffering a chronic headache, nausea and dizziness, she went to a doctor who really checked her out. The final verdict of the examination stunned her.

Her kidneys were failing because of years of persistent high blood pressure. Dialysis would eventually be necessary. If she was lucky, she could get a kidney transplant for a better quality of life.

“I didn’t know high blood pressure could cause kidney failure,” says Arambula, who had a successful kidney transplant in 2011. “I thought high blood pressure caused heart problems, strokes, not kidney disease.”

Today, whenever and wherever she can, Arambula shares her story, which is part “ignorance is not bliss” and “please give people a second chance through organ donation.”

And, along with about 1,000 others, she’ll be at the starting line on Sunday morning at UNLV for the annual Las Vegas Kidney Walk.

Held in nearly 100 communities throughout the U.S. with about 75,000 walkers participating, the Kidney Walk is the nation’s largest fundraiser to fight kidney disease. More than $8 million is raised each year, largely through sponsorship of walkers, to help kidney patients and their families.

Getting the word out

Dr. John Ham, medical director for University Medical Center’s Center for Transplantation and the man who performed Arambula’s surgery, said he’s seen few people more dedicated to getting the word out about kidney disease and kidney donation than Arambula — and no one is more thankful about getting a second chance at a normal life.

“She talks to people in schools, in hospitals, wherever she can, and she makes sure she takes care of herself to show how thankful she is that someone donated an organ that gave her a better life,” Ham said.

Arambula understands people find themselves in difficult situations either similar to hers in the ‘90s or even more challenging — and can put off a thorough checkup by a doctor. But she implores them to take charge of their health and find a way to get checked out. Often clinics and senior centers offer free blood pressure screenings, she notes.

Nearly 30 percent of kidney failures in the U.S. are the result of high blood pressure; diabetes, at nearly 45 percent, remains the leading cause.

“You really don’t know about blood pressure yourself until it’s too late,” she says. “That’s why it’s called a silent killer.”

Ham, who believes too many people still think of high blood pressure’s effects only in relation to strokes and heart attacks, says uncontrolled high blood pressure “wreaks havoc” on kidneys.

It causes arteries around the kidneys to narrow, weaken or harden, resulting in the organs’ diminished ability to filter blood and regulate fluids, hormones, acids and salts in the body.

What can then happen is what happened to Arambula. In 2009, she was forced to go on dialysis, a method of treating kidney failure by using a machine to remove waste material.

“I was really depressed,” she says. “Three days a week for three and a half hours, I was attached to a machine, dependent.”

Fortunately, she got on the transplant list at UMC. Less that two years later, she was called in the middle of the night, and Ham and his team performed the transplant.

All she knows about the donor is that he or she was killed in a car accident.

“I wrote a thank-you letter that was given to the family, but they want to keep their privacy and I respect that,” she says.

’Second chance at life’

She shows me the fistful of pills she takes every day to ensure her donated kidney keeps working, which she says is a small price to pay for a wonderful quality of life.

Arambula also shows me pictures of her hiking all the peaks at Red Rock Canyon, and the medals she’s won in track and field in the Transplant Games of America and the Nevada Senior Games.

“I’m so happy I got a real second chance at life because of a kind person and family,” she says. “I’ve been given the chance to live life to the fullest and I’m doing exactly that. I hope that helps show my respect for the gift of life I’ve been given.”

Contact Paul Harasim at 702-387-5273 or pharasim@reviewjournal.com. Follow paulharasim on Twitter.