By SARAH DEETH Examiner Staff Writer

Posted 10 minutes ago

A good attitude goes a long way. Sharron Shepstone should know. A doctor once told her she was going to die.

The 63-year-old city resident has survived the loss of both kidneys.

Shepstone was recognized Thursday by the Kidney Foundation of Canada for writing a winning essay outlining her experiences with kidney disease.

Shepstone had her right kidney removed in 1990.

A pain along Shepstone’s left side of her back was her first indication that something was wrong.

She went to her doctor, and said she was told that she needed to lose weight and exercise.

Shepstone said she struggled to get in shape and the pain never left. She returned to the doctor and asked for an ultrasound.

Sharron Shepstone

That revealed a tumour on her right kidney, she said. It was removed shortly after diagnosis.

For 15 years she lived with one kidney and no health problems.

Then Shepstone got into three separate car collisions. With a laugh, she was quick to point out that she wasn’t at fault for any of them.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Those collisions turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Another ultrasound revealed more tumours on Shepstone’s left kidney.

The initial prognosis didn’t look good.

“I was told to put my things in order because I was going to die,” Shepstone said. “I kind blanked.”

But she pursued a second opinion, and this time the doctor referred her to a specialist at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.

Her left kidney was removed, making kidney dialysis a regular part of Shepstone’s life.

Shepstone is a patient liaison at Peterborough Regional Health Centre and wanted to share her story with others, to let people know that kidney disease can be a manageable part of living a full life.

“I’m back on my feet and I’m going to stay there,” Shepstone said.

The Kidney Foundation handed Shepstone $500 for sharing her story. Shepstone’s planning on spending the money on a spa day with her daughter.

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One type of open heart surgery is likely safer than the other for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Open heart, or coronary artery bypass, surgery can be done two ways: on-pump or off-pump, depending on whether the patient is put on a heart-lung machine. Off-pump surgery allows a surgeon to perform a bypass without stopping the heart. This may help cut down on kidney injuries that can arise after heart surgery, which can deprive the kidneys of normal blood flow.

While patients with CKD often have heart problems, they're usually excluded from heart bypass clinical trials and are often undertreated for heart disease.

Lakhmir Chawla, MD (George Washington University) and his colleagues looked to see if off-pump bypass surgery helps protect the kidneys of CKD patients compared with on-pump surgery. The investigators studied 742,909 bypass surgery patients (158,561 or 21.4% of whom underwent off-pump surgery) from 2004 to 2009.

CKD patients with particularly poor kidney function were more than three times as likely to die or need dialysis during the study when they underwent on-pump surgery compared with off-pump surgery.

"Our data suggest that excluding CKD patients from clinical trials of off-pump surgery may have resulted in an underestimation of potential benefit for this patient subgroup," said Dr. Chawla. "If you need to have bypass surgery and you have CKD, an operative approach that does not involve the heart-lung machine may help avoid the need for dialysis," he added.

Source: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

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Medgenics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MDGN)(AIM: MEDU)(AIM: MEDG) (the "Company"), developer of the novel Biopump™ technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, today announced receipt of clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA" or the "Agency") to proceed with a Phase IIb clinical trial of EPODURE™ for the treatment of anemia in patients undergoing renal dialysis. EPODURE is intended to produce and deliver erythropoietin ("EPO") on a sustained basis. This multi-center, randomized clinical trial will be the first study in the U.S. using the Company's proprietary Biopump™ technology, and will evaluate the safety and efficacy of sustained EPO therapy delivered via Medgenics' EPODURE Biopump. Treatment of anemia in dialysis patients with EPODURE is intended to replace frequent injections of EPO or other erythropoietic stimulating agents ("ESAs").    

"This timely acceptance of our first Investigational New Drug ("IND") to the FDA marks a significant milestone for our Biopump protein platform. We are very pleased with our U.S. regulatory progress and with the interactions with the FDA, allowing us to proceed with the launch of our first U.S. trial," stated Andrew L. Pearlman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Medgenics. "This trial is significant for Medgenics as a company as well as for patients with anemia, as we anticipate EPODURE could provide a better treatment for anemia in the future."

"We are hopeful that the positive interaction with the FDA for EPODURE bodes well for the Agency's approach to other future indications for our Biopump protein delivery platform technology," added Dr. Pearlman.

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Maryville dialysis clinic seeks Medicare agreement Maryville Daily Times By Joel Davis | ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) East Tennessee Dialysis Center Inc. in Maryville, which state and federal authorities cited for unsafe practices earlier in the year, is seeking to renew its Medicare and Medicaid participation agreement.

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