By STEVEN JUPITER
PITTSFORD—Louis Gaudreau has climbed the 48 tallest peaks in New Hampshire. Not bad for a 67-year-old. But his physical regiment has a purpose beyond the thrill of adventure: he’s keeping himself in shape in order to remain eligible to receive a donated kidney. Mr. Gaudreau suffers from polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and has been undergoing dialysis 4 times per week for the last two years. PKD causes cysts to develop in the kidneys, eventually impairing function to the point of organ failure.
A native Vermonter (born in Newport and raised in Derby), Mr. Gaudreau attended UVM and became a structural engineer, mostly for OMYA, a career that has taken him to Austria, Brazil, and Canada. But throughout their travels, he and his wife, Nancy, have maintained a home in Pittsford, where they raised their 4 children, Tom, Lynn, Mark, and Mary. He’s been a full-time resident in Pittsford again since 2018 and has been retired since 2020.
In addition to the PKD, Mr. Gaudreau learned in 2015 that he had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a form of blood cancer in which white blood cells attack red blood cells. The condition led to autoimmune hemolytic anemia for Mr. Gaudreau. On top of this, the PDK causes the kidneys to stop producing erythropoietin, a hormone that spurs the growth of red blood cells (and one of the substances that Lance Armstrong was caught abusing). Essentially, the PDK was already hindering the production of red blood cells when the leukemia began attacking the limited supply Mr. Gaudreau had left.
“I’m a lifelong runner and I started realizing I just couldn’t run like I used to,” said Gaudreau, recalling how he first became aware that something was amiss.
Mr. Gaudreau has had 6 blood transfusions, spent a month in a Canadian hospital, and has undergone two rounds of chemo, one for 6 months in 2018 and one for 12 months in 2021-22. His white-blood cell levels are now normal, but the PDK is irreversible.
He’s been on the donor list at Mass General in Boston since June of 2021, but the average wait for a deceased donor is 7 years. A living donor would significantly cut the wait and allow Mr. Gaudreau to reclaim his life.
“Dialysis 4 times per week really limits what I can do,” he said. Each dialysis treatment lasts 4.5 to 5 hours.
So far, 9 living people have been screened to donate to Mr. Gaudreau, though none has been deemed a match.
Anyone who would like to be screened as a possible donor can contact Mr. Gaudreau directly at lggaudreau@gmail.com. The process initiates on Mass General’s website and the online screening sometimes is enough to determine that someone would not be a suitable donor. There is no cost to the donor.
In the meantime, Mr. Gaudreau will continue to hike and keep himself fit. He also fills his time with work for the Pittsford Village Farm, where he is Treasurer and head of the events committee.
“Having someone volunteer as a living donor would open up my life again,” he said.
