Lorena: Dialysis Treatment Sparks Unlikely Friendship - KWTX |
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LORENA (May 12, 2015) Before January of 2009, Randy Williams was a normal man. He would commute from Lorena to Austin to work, and would umpire on his days off. Today, he is living on disability claims and has been on a kidney waiting list for over a year. After multiple tests doctors discovered Williams, 56, had autonomic dysfunction. That issue led to kidney failure. For the past two years, Williams has had dialysis treatments three times a week for four-and-a-half hours. Even though the dialysis treatments have taken a toll on Williams' body, one thing has kept him pushing through the treatments. A newfound friendship. Terry Key, 26, of Troy was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure in 2011. He is also undergoing dialysis treatments. Even though Williams is 30 years Key's senior, their hopes for longer lives are one in the same. "When you go to dialysis there's like fifty chairs...it's like one big family," says Williams. Both Williams and Key know tomorrow isn't promised. Their search for donors is made more urgent when their big family gets smaller. "I see the same people every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the last two years I've also probably seen five or six people that were no longer there because they passed away," says Williams. About 123,000 people are waiting for organs and about 100,000 of those are waiting for kidneys. |