1/25/19

(458) The Passing of Bill Peckam

January 25th, 2019
Friday

I heard through the web-vine in the last few days, that Bill Peckham is no longer on the planet.  His name is sprinkled throughout this blog. You could say we were "blogger buddies" although I think I only talked to him once or twice (see Post 454).

Mark Neumann, writing for Nephrology News & Issues, said of Bill: 

"He started a blog on his own website called The Sharp End of the Needle, that included stories about his travels, debates about policy issues and the ESRD Program and interviews with kidney care staff and fellow patients about ways to get the most out of dialysis.

“Nobody signs up for (dialysis) as a lifestyle,” Peckham said in a talk he presented after his Grand Canyon rafting trip, but “being on dialysis really didn’t impact my vision of the future” in carrying on with life. He worked full time for 22 years in the event production industry building conference exhibits before retiring in March 2017."

When I was first wondering if and how I could work full time while being on dialysis, Bill's example of dializing all over the world encouraged me to continue to do trainings in other cities and travel to Washington D.C. to advocate ESRD patients. As an advocate, Bill encouraged people to accept dialysis as a way to enable us to live life fully, "the way we are meant to live".  He supported that belief by living fully, including rafting down the Colorado River while use "home" dialysis throughout the trip.

 Bill Peckham will be missed by the kidney dialysis community: RIP my blogger friend.