By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Despite being diagnosed with end-stage renal failure over a year ago, Cambodian American Randy Yim is optimistic he’ll find a kidney donor.
He has become the face of National Minority Donor Awareness Month, which took place in August. He started to raise awareness of kidney disease, the need for donors, and his love for sneakers through social media.
For people of color, finding a donor is an extra burden as well. Sixty percent of people on the national transplant waiting list are from multicultural communities. That far outweighs the percentage of the general population. Although transplants can be successful regardless of the ethnicity of the donor and recipient, the chance of longer-term survival may be greater if the donor and recipient are closely matched in terms of their shared genetic background.
People of color are more likely to be in need of a lifesaving transplant. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “African Americans, Hispanics, and Pacific Islanders are three times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from end-stage renal disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions.” Although patients in need of a transplant can find organ matches from donors of other ethnic groups, having a diverse donor pool makes it easier to find a match for all patients.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an organ transplant is a lifesaving procedure in which tissue, or an organ, is transferred from one area of a person’s body to another area, or from one person (the donor) to another person (the recipient). In the United States, the most commonly transplanted organs are the kidney, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas, and intestines. On any given day, there are around 100,000 people on the active waiting list for organs, but only approximately 14,000 deceased organ donors in 2021, with each providing on average 3.5 organs. Living donors provide on average only around 6,000 organs per year.
Chronic kidney disease
Chronic kidney disease is kidney damage that is usually permanent, and gets worse over time. Most common causes are diabetes and high blood pressure—both destroy the small blood vessels of the kidneys.
Kidneys are an important organ in the body that cleans waste and water out of your body in the form of urine. Blood travels from the heart through your kidneys. Kidneys also keep the body in balance, keeping what the body needs, and removing what it doesn’t need. When one’s kidneys are working at less than 15%, one needs dialysis or a kidney transplant to get waste and fluid out.
In November, Yim started dialysis treatments three times a week, for about four hours each time, at Northwest Kidney Center (NKC) in Renton.
Founded in 1962, NKC is a Seattle-based not-for-profit provider of kidney dialysis, public health education, and research. NKC serves almost 4 out of 5 people who need dialysis in Washington’s King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Clallam counties.
Growing up
Randy Yim was born and raised in Seattle with his single mother and younger sister. He and his family moved around in the Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace areas growing up.
He said his family simply didn’t go to the doctor while he was growing up, which is why his diabetes wasn’t diagnosed sooner.
Yim confirmed diabetes runs in the family, but he was the first person in his family to be diagnosed. Later down the road, his mother had a stroke in 2022, and they learned she had diabetes after that. His sister was also diagnosed with diabetes.
Life-changing diagnosis
Last September, Yim returned home from a work trip and noticed that his vision had worsened. His legs were also swollen at the time and he was constantly thirsty, but he didn’t think twice about it.
He found himself staring two inches away from the computer screen to see his work and he originally thought he just needed a new prescription, so he went to see his eye doctor. They took his blood pressure and it was really high. They told him to establish primary care and get that resolved immediately. He was also referred to a retina specialist.
Several weeks of testing later, his provider told him he needed to start dialysis treatment as soon as possible.
This was a result of his untreated diabetes. He went to see a specialist and they told him to go to urgent care to try and get his blood pressure taken care of.
Yim felt like his kidney disease came out of nowhere. He knew he had diabetes, but he didn’t manage it well because it was a period of transition—in between jobs and periods of time where he didn’t have health insurance coverage. He also felt the pressure of taking medication out in public.
Not all restaurants have accommodations for him to take insulin and no place to deposit needles.
“I always felt weird about how to do it, I mismanaged my diabetes and didn’t take the medication as needed,” he said.
He also wasn’t educated about the long-term effects of mismanaging diabetes. He’s come a long way in terms of health education now with his kidney disease and going through the dialysis treatments multiple times a week. Since being diagnosed with kidney disease, he has learned a great deal of how to maintain his health with a goal of getting a transplant.
One of the biggest lifestyle changes for Yim has been managing his salt and sodium levels. He has had to get creative and find alternative seasonings that have lower salt content to add flavor in his meals.
Much of his cooking is simple. They try to cook a lot of proteins with rice and vegetables to keep a balanced meal. High phosphorus foods are also something he tries to avoid. He still eats out a lot, but he picks and chooses, and makes smarter decisions about what to order.
The biggest challenge is the liquid intake. In the past, he was always able to drink a bunch of fluids and finish a Gatorade bottle really quickly, but now he has to restrict himself to 32 to 40 ounces a day.
He was recently vacationing in Arizona where it was 110 degrees and it was very challenging to limit his liquid intake with the extreme heat.
Finding balance
Yim has been working at Amazon for six years. He said that his team is understanding and flexible when it comes to him having to go to dialysis several times a week.
“It’s a challenge, but my work has been so supportive. Managing my workload is a balance that I’m still trying to navigate. I’m lucky that I have a supportive team, but internally it’s hard. I feel this pressure of guilt and not being able to work to accomplish what I need to do,” Yim shared.
He has career goals, too, and the pressure he sometimes feels has been one of the biggest curve balls.
Married since July of 2022, Ann Nguyen has been his rock and emotional support. Nguyen drives Yim to all his appointments and does drop off and pick up after his dialysis treatments. She supports him, stays optimistic, and makes sure he has the support he needs so he doesn’t stray off from maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Yim was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2018. He and his wife have been together since 2017 and she was there when he was first diagnosed; and has been on the journey with him ever since.
Breaking the stigma of going to the doctor
He wants people to know that if you’re not feeling OK, a Tylenol may not cut it—which is something he used to rely on for pain instead of going to the doctor. Growing up, going to the doctor terrified Yim. He and his family never saw a doctor because of the high costs.
He realized the importance of establishing primary care and researching and finding resources to help mitigate high healthcare costs.
Yim said that some Asian people have a lot of fear that comes from the financial burden of going to see a doctor.
“Do your best to educate yourself and find resources to establish primary care,” he emphasized.
Yim also shared that growing up, he didn’t realize there are a lot of options to supplement healthcare costs and programs within hospitals to help reduce one’s healthcare bill.
He feels fortunate to be in a good financial situation now so that he doesn’t have to worry as much about that.
At the time, Yim felt young and unstoppable. He didn’t think anything would happen health-wise, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Organ donation
Yim has blood type O which means that he is a universal giver, but not necessarily the universal receiver. Blood type O is harder to find a march. The average wait for a donor is about three to five years in Washington state, but because of his blood type, the wait is pushed to four to six years.
If Yim doesn’t find a donor, he would need to continue dialysis for the rest of his life.
According to the NKC, the average life expectancy for someone on dialysis is 5-10 years, but many live 20 or more years.
There are three transplant centers in the greater Seattle area, which means there is a higher rate of transplants here.
When Yim receives a transplant, dialysis would end. He wouldn’t have to restrict his liquid intake anymore and he could eat more foods.
The national transplant waiting list currently stands at more than 100,000 people, with more than 60 percent of those waiting representing multicultural communities. An average of 16 people die everyday waiting for a transplant.
Give the gift of life by registering to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor at registerme.org.
Nina can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.