Forty years is the age when a man reaches his life form. And this is what he is fighting now - to regain full fitness after donating his kidney to her daughter. Ewa Anna Baryłkiewicz talks to Przemysław Saleta.
It was really dramatic. After a successful kidney removal operation, performed on December 5, 2007 at the Warsaw clinic at ul. Lindley, Saleta was fine. Three days later he suffered from internal hemorrhage. Another operation was necessary. For five days, a team of specialists fought for his life. Success.
You have become a national hero.
And it just doesn't make sense. After all, the disease or - as in this case - donating a kidney to a child are private matters and there is no need to make a big deal out of them. But on the other hand, when you are a public figure, you can't hide it. And if it cannot be concealed, it is worth using it for some greater purpose - for example, the promotion of family transplants, of which there are very few in Poland. I wanted to make people think that they can really help their children or relatives and not be afraid to do so. These complications that happened to me practically do not happen, today organ removal is a really simple procedure. And you give someone a normal life for a dozen or even 20 years. And it really has an irrational value.
Nicole is okay?
Yes. The transplanted kidney works great from the beginning. The research results are amazing. After two years of dialysis, backbreaking diet, fluid restriction, anesthesia, taking pills with every meal, my daughter can live a normal life again, just like her peers. This is something amazing. Now it is a completely different child - happier, more energetic, open. But most of all he althy - and that's the greatest relief.
You promote the idea of family transplants, you work in the transplantation foundation.
I try to make people aware that it is worth helping others, that doctors are honest. Together with the "Krewniacy" foundation, we are doing a billboard campaign promoting consent to donating organs for family transplants. Because people's negative reaction, I suspect, comes from the fact that they know little about transplants and are unnecessarily afraid. And finally, out of a simple reluctance to help others when it is to be done at our expense. Although this cost - compared to what you get in return- there is really none.
Yes, but now you only have one kidney …
Living with one kidney is the same as living with two. After surgery, there are only recommendations to lead a he althier lifestyle. And there are more frequent medical checks, because the hospital that collects the organ has to look after the donor for up to 10 years. As a result, according to statistics, after donating a kidney, people live longer than those who have two. On the other hand, people on dialysis live an average of 10 years, but when they get a new organ, their life span doubles. In the case of family transplantation, it becomes even longer because the organs have more compatible antigens and are easier to accept in the recipient's organism.
In Poland, only 0.5 percent. transplants use organs from living donors, relatives. For comparison - in the USA there are 50 percent of them. These stats are shocking!
In Scandinavia 40%, in Japan 80% In our country, people are still afraid, even when it comes to helping their loved ones. And family transplants can save around 1,000 people a year! Not to mention how many people you could give life by agreeing to donate the organs of your deceased loved ones.
Let's face it: transplantology was damaged by last year's political scandal.
It's true. The famous speech of Minister Ziobro, who accused the doctor of taking bribes for speeding up transplants, had a negative impact on the decisions of many families to donate their relatives' organs after their death. In the best years of these transplants, there were 2,400 per year, and now I saw the statistics - by mid-December there were only 831 and the waiting number is up to 12,000. And this psychosis continues. People fear that the organs of their loved ones may be traded. And yet the entire procedure of obtaining an organ from a dead donor is very complicated and is carefully controlled at every level. It is a dense sieve that ensures that everything is happening in accordance with the law. I guess there is illegal organ trafficking somewhere (mostly in Asia, South America). But with us there is really nothing to be afraid of.
Has anyone in your family suffered from kidney disease before Nicole?
No, neither in Ewa's family, nor in mine. Therefore, we did not suspect this problem in the child. It just happened by accident on a blood test. Actually, the symptoms were like with diabetes or anemia: Nicole felt very bad, drank a lot, slept a lot and was constantly tired. And it turned out that her kidneys have not been working for a long time and are poisoning the body. We found out about it at the end of January 2006. And since then, dialysis began. It was troublesome - Nika got pills with every meal, she had towas to avoid protein and potassium in the diet, limit its amount of fluid. She had dialysis three times a week, each of them took six hours to commute. There were also complications: there was staphylococcus in the hospital, and this catheter broke, so since July - excluding surgery - Nicole had been anesthetized five times. Each subsequent one weakened her heart and was associated with a lot of stress. It all required us patience and peace.
Initially, the donor was supposed to be Nika's mom, which changed your decision?
I was living in the United States at the time, Nicole and my mother here. Ewa wanted to help the child as soon as possible. She did the research and found out she could be a donor. The transplant was scheduled for June 2006, but a few days before the operation, Nika was diagnosed with some he alth complications. The transplant was suspended for fear that the disease would also affect the transplanted kidney. We had to wait for the next approval for the operation and for the… donor, because the doctors decided that it would be better if the first transplant came from a dead donor. Unfortunately, Ziobro's press conference took place at that time and the transplants stopped, for two months there was not a single one in Poland. So I made a decision that if I got tested, I would give my daughter my own kidney. I am older than her mother, so it was better for me to be a donor now and Ewa in about 20 years, because it is known that one transplant will not end with one. I did not want my daughter to wait several years for the operation. Because these dialyses work worse and worse over time. Nicole was entering puberty, she should be growing, not growing. I found there was nothing to wait for. Especially that the second kidney would be needed only for my sports career, and not in everyday life.
This decision was difficult?
I took it without the slightest doubt. Ewa had an objection and asked me many times if I was aware of what I was doing and what the consequences would be. But I believe that there are more important and more important things in life. I was ready for surgery. I just had to change my diet slightly because my cholesterol was elevated during the tests.
But not everything went smoothly …
Such complications happen once in 80,000, it happened to me. It is still not clear why this happened. Doctors have several theories for this - from an individual anomaly of my body, through a sports diet, to emotions. The psychologist also claims that my body panicked and turned off, just like a child who sees something terrible and stops talking in an instant, even though his speech apparatus is fully functional.
You won with death. It was the most difficult fight in the Lordlife?
No. It was relatively easy for me because I slept through it all. I've had a couple of boxing fights or boxing kicks in my life that were really very difficult. Then a person has doubts whether he will be able to cope. He has to fight both the opponent and himself. And there was no such thing here. Rather, it was my relatives who fought the struggle - with fear and helplessness. My fiancée, Ewa, spent the whole day by my bed, talking to me all the time, which helped wake me up. And my ex-wife traveled from one hospital to another because Nicole was in the Children's Memorial He alth Institute.
In misfortune, people unite. But the Lord has a great relationship with his ex-wives on a daily basis. In addition, both ladies became friends with your fiancée, Ewa Wiertel. How did you do it?
I don't know why everyone is surprised at this? This should be the norm, after all. If people have spent many years together, why should they avoid each other after divorce? Especially if these relationships are children. Then it is worth waving your hand over trifles, forgiving yourself some things and forgetting others. It is never easy, it takes a lot of time and a lot of work on both sides. But once the emotions have subsided, it is worth starting to build normal, he althy relationships again. Especially that if the adults do not get along, the children will suffer the most.
It wasn't just the Lord's family who supported the Lord. All of Poland was with you.
When you brush against death, you can develop faith in people. In your loved ones who are with you, but also in doctors who do everything in their power to heal you quickly. Everyone supported me - nurses, orderlies, even the ladies in the kitchen. I received sympathy from people I stranger in the form of prayers, e-mails and letters. It's very nice. Because it shows that you can count on others in difficult moments. Against friends and enemies.
How will this event affect your life?
I've come to the conclusion that it's worth slowing down a bit in life. Because we really do not know the day or the hour and it may turn out that if we do not spend more time with the people we love today, we may not have the opportunity tomorrow. I have always been very eager to live in the sense that many things interested me. Probably it will still interest me, but I consciously want to give up some things. Because it is worth skipping a trip or training to spend more time with a child or girl. Such moments are irretrievably lost … There is a saying: "live as if your every next day would be the last one". It may turn out to be so. Therefore, it is not worth postponing what is valuable to us.
What is he going to do nowDo you want to take care of it?
I have already given up on competitive sports. But not with sports at all. When I recover, I will start exercising intensively. Apart from that, I have some media-related plans, so far I can only say that these will be TV and press projects. I also have my own marketing and advertising company, but for now I'm not going to come back to it. I will not take on new challenges until I am sure I will be able to keep my commitments.
What are you doing to regain your strength?
I train. I started on January 1, because I am superstitious, I think that the first day of the year, the whole year. Right now, that is gym training, circuit, aerobic treadmill walking, and cycling - every other day, for an hour. Unfortunately, my body is so disrupted that it is in the catabolism phase, which means it "eats" itself. It takes time and food for him to start building muscle again and for the results of my training to be as they should be.
What about Nika? A transplanted organ lasts only a dozen or so years …
There are cases where someone after family transplantation has a kidney for 23 years and the organ is still functioning well. And what next? Her mom's kidney is still in the reserve.
Maybe the situation of Polish transplantology will change at this time?
I hope so too. Unfortunately, it's very easy to break something overnight, it's very hard to rebuild. But I would like my example to mobilize people to act. Maybe this way I will also help someone else?
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