This is a reprint of a post from WellCommons…  it’s just an inspiring story.

Bill James, 39, of Lawrence, has a dialysis treatment Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011, at a Kansas Dialysis Services unit in Lawrence Memorial Hospital. James is among 146 people who have received financial assistance through a special patient fund that was started by his doctor, Scott Solcher, and Kansas Dialysis Services CEO Stan Langhofer. James, who can no longer work because of his medical condition, said he received $500 which he used for a housing payment. "It took a lot of pressure off," he said. Photo by Mike Yoder

http://wellcommons.com/groups/wellness/2011/sep/22/lawrence-doctor-to-ride-bicycle-100-mile/

Lawrence resident Bill James, 39, is hooked up to a machine three times a week for about four hours. He sits in a recliner while the machine filters his blood.

He bides time by watching television, reading a book, listening to music or visiting with staff and other patients. He said those relationships have been invaluable during a difficult time.

“Some days you feel better than others. Mentally, it has been tough,” he said.

On Feb. 11, his life changed overnight.

He went to sleep feeling fine and then his wife, Teddi, found him on the floor the next morning.

“I just woke up in the emergency room and was pretty sick,” he said.

Doctors told him that his kidneys were failing because of diabetes and high blood pressure; he had only 25 percent kidney function. The illness left him so weak that he couldn’t pick up his 3-year-old daughter, Leatha, and so he had to quit his full-time job at a goat dairy farm. For the first time in 20 years, he wasn’t working.

“I felt kind of useless,” he said.

Within three months, he began dialysis at the Kansas Dialysis Services unit in Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and he’s slowly gaining his strength. He hopes to get his first disability check in October and he’s filling out paperwork to have a kidney-pancreas transplant.

James said the bills began to stack up this summer, and he and his wife were having trouble making house and car payments. He was grateful to receive $500 from the Kansas Dialysis Patient Assistance Fund that was started three years ago by his doctor, Scott Solcher, and Stan Langhofer, CEO of Topeka-based Kansas Dialysis Services (KDS).

“It took a lot of pressure off,” James said. “It just helped to know that we were safe another month.”

Solcher, medical director of KDS Home Dialysis and the Lawrence unit, and Langhofer decided to do a 100-mile bicycle ride called “Tour de Dialysis” to help patients in need like James.

Dr. Scott Solcher, left, and Stan Langhofer, both of Kansas Dialysis Services, will ride 100 miles on Sept. 30 to raise funds for patients with basic needs like transportation, medicine and rent. Solcher, chief of staff at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, is medical director of KDS Home Dialysis and the Lawrence unit, and Langhofer is CEO.

“Life really is more difficult for people on dialysis. They have more hurdles than the rest of us, and there are not always safety nets and programs that will help accommodate their needs,” Solcher said.

He has patients who are having trouble paying for food, vehicle repairs so they can get dialysis, and prescription medicines.

“It’s heart-breaking,” he said.

So far, the bicycle ride has raised $52,775 and has helped 146 people.

The third annual ride is slated for Sept. 30. Solcher and Langhofer will start at Ransom Memorial Hospital in Ottawa, stop at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and then finish in Topeka at Stormont-Vail Healthcare and St. Francis Health Center.

“As long as it’s not hailing or there’s two inches of snow, we are going to go,” Solcher said.

James described Solcher as a doctor who “genuinely cares” about his patients.

“For him to put himself out there and do it is just awesome. It’s just cool.”

TOUR DE DIALYSIS

Dr. Scott Solcher and Stan Langhofer, of Kansas Dialysis Services, will ride their bicycles 100 miles on Sept. 30 to raise money to help low-income patients with basic needs like transportation, food, clothing, medicine and rent.

The annual ride is called Tour de Dialysis and this year it will go from Ottawa to Topeka with a stop in Lawrence.

If you would like to pledge support by donating for each of the 100 miles they pedal, contact Langhofer at 785-234-2277 or Stormont-Vail Foundation at 785-354-6851 or visit the KDS website.

Kansas Dialysis Services is co-owned by divisions of Stormont-Vail HealthCare and St. Francis Health Center in Topeka. It provides dialysis care for more than 350 patients, including about 70 in Lawrence.