Last November, I took some training to become a Peer Mentor through the hospital where I received my kidney transplant and the National Kidney Foundation. I waited and waited to be assigned to a person, but nothing happened.
Then just before Labor Day, I got a call from the social worker at the transplant unit. She had matched me with a woman who has been on dialysis only a few months. Would I be willing to meet with her?
I was very hesitant and nervous at first, but I prayed about it and asked other people to pray as well. I called the woman and our first conversation went well. She was enthusiastic about having a Peer Mentor and was more than willing to get together. We set up a date to meet for lunch.
Our first meeting went very well. Kathie is a bright, intelligent woman who is going through some very tough and scary times with her health right now. It helps to have someone who will listen to your fears and frustrations and share their own experience with you. You know you are not walking through this experience alone.
Many of her feelings mirrored my own as I was beginning dialysis: the frustration with procedures that don't go well and the desire to just get through one treatment without something going wrong. Now I can look back on those times and see that yes, things did get better, treatments went more smoothly and I got stronger. Kathie will, too.
That's a great service.
My wife's cousin, who we saw get married yesterday, does that for cancer patients. He's in remission for his cancer and has mentored other young men going through cancer; unfortunately, his most recent charge died a month or so ago.
Posted by: Mark Byron | September 13, 2009 at 12:24 AM