Our friend Bill died last night.
Bill was an incredible man. He is one of the smartest men I knew. He also shared my love for travel. And he happened to be on dialysis.
I first met Bill after I had re-joined DCI after completing residency. I visited Northwest Kidney Centers to learn from Joyce and her team. When I got there, Joyce said to me, “Doug, there is someone I need you to meet.” She introduced me to Bill and Bill, Joyce and I had the best conversation about so many different topics. The number one thing that I remember about this meeting is that he told me that DCI needed “to fight above its weight class” in pushing for changes to improve care.
During that trip, I also found out from Bill’s friend Jim Smith that they were planning on taking a rafting trip down the Rogue River and that he had two extra spots for the trip. I walked out of the room and immediately called my wife – “Kath – please, please, please – can we go on this trip?” I wish I could have seen her face on the other end of the line. She agreed, and we both took the trip down the Rogue.
The trip down the Rogue was incredible. Also on the trip for DCI were Lauren Hollingsworth, Kyle Nuckolls, Cheryl Conquest and two summer interns, including Vlad Ladik’s daughter Sasha. Fantastic rapids, beautiful wilderness, and we got to sleep on beds. We also talked a great deal with Bill, Kay Deck, Gary Peterson, Dan Larabee and his wife Connie about how care needed to change. As we neared the end of the trip, we started paddling backwards – we did not want the incredible experience to end and we wanted to stay on the river. We also didn’t want to leave Bill. Bill told us that he was going to visit a redwood forest later that day, so we followed him. On the way we had a few stops for the “urinators” in the group, put our feet in the Pacific Ocean, and wandered with Bill in the Redwood Forest. By the time we got to Portland Airport, I think it was 3 AM and our flight was scheduled to leave in a few hours.
The Rogue Trip was a proof of concept trip to the Grand Canyon. If we can do three days on the Rogue, why can’t we do eight days down the Colorado River?
The trip through the Grand Canyon was incredible. The water was SO cold. The temperature was SO hot. Beautiful scenery that someone can only see from the river, hail storms, intense rain storms, always changing, never knowing what was coming next.
Below is a link to a video that our friend (and guide) Kat took during the trip. We are halfway down the river, at a place no one can reach without going down the river, and a spot that no one on in center dialysis could experience. We had climbed to the beautiful spot, walked along this treacherous ledge where Bill and Kyle thought they were going to die (We are very happy that there is not a “Bill Peckham Falls” in the Grand Canyon), and then this intense hail storm hit us without warning. We got under cover just in time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaF1D-imHj0
On the last day of the trip, we floated down the river and all shared our thoughts about the trip. When it got to Bill, he took some whiskey. Then some more whiskey. And he started talking about the lonely journey of a person on home dialysis. He also thanked us for sharing his dream with him.
Lori Hartwell asked Bill and me (really Bill, I was just on the line) to talk about the trip down the Grand Canyon. I listened to her podcast last night. So fun to hear Bill talking about the trip. Here’s the link – https://www.rsnhope.org/kidneytalk/adventure-hunters-dialyzing-grand-canyontravel-dialysis/
Bill continued to fight for better care and continued to live “the breadth of life.” I visited him in the hospital a few months ago. I thought I would get to see him for an hour. We spent the whole day together. Pramen Applasamy is going to be working on an improvement to Darwin based on Bill’s recommendations that day. On that day, once again, I felt that I was sitting at the feet of a legend. He saw things with such clarity and purpose.
Bill’s big push this year was finding ways to improve care for people receiving in center dialysis. Yesterday I listened to the a blog from him and Peter Laird on Bills website “Sharp End of the Needle”. Here’s the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQQbpvLa28&t=6s
After Lauren and I returned from the Rogue trip, we met in her office and agreed with each other that we would work together to improve care for people with kidney disease. This was the beginning of REACH.
I feel like Bill is still with me. He is in my heart. And I think I will be pushing harder for us to improve care. When I do, you will know that Bill is at my side.
– Doug Johnson, M.D.