Dialysis patient is 20-time triathlon athlete

Shad Ireland has competed in 20 triathlons, half of which were Ironman races, and has taken a 4,000-mile bike ride across the United States. Ireland is a dialysis patient. Shad Ireland has competed in 20 triathlons, half of which were Ironman races, and has taken a 4,000-mile bike ride across the United States. Ireland is a dialysis patient. Photo: Submitted Photo Photo: Submitted Photo Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Dialysis patient is 20-time triathlon athlete 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

THE WOODLANDS — When Shad Ireland was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1983 at the age of 10, doctors told him he wouldn’t live past 25. Today, Ireland is 39 and has competed in 20 triathlons, biked across America and does speaking engagements around the world.

Visiting with patients at the Fresenius Medical Care Cypress Creek Dialysis Center in The Woodlands Wednesday, Ireland said his success can be traced back to three words he learned in a college class: reflection, realization and perception.

“As I walked out of class, I saw a young man in a wheelchair, and he smiled at me. I realized he would have given anything to be in my shoes, to be able to walk,” Ireland said. “Here I was, consumed with anger and frustration about a disease I had no control over. ... I started to get this crazy notion that this disease could be beaten.”

When Ireland reached the age of 25, he said he knew it was time to do something. He’d been told he’d never complete college, get married or fulfill his dream of becoming an athlete. Since his early diagnosis, drugs and alcohol had become outlets for him, and Ireland said he even attempted suicide.

“At 25, I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person looking back at me,” Ireland said.

At 31, Ireland told doctors he would do the Ironman triathlon in Lake Placid, Minn. Ireland weighed 85 pounds.

“When I said that, it was met with a lot of laughter. Doctors thought I had lost my mind,” Ireland said. “Globally, people thought I was insane — no dialysis patient could do that.”

On July 25, 2004, Ireland successfully completed the Ironman triathlon and has now done 20 triathlons, half of them Ironman races.

For the past eight years, Ireland has advocated for the health of dialysis patients. Many dialysis patients are clinically depressed and have become despondent about continuing their lives, Ireland said.

“When I see patients, I ask, ‘What are your goals and dreams?’ And they say, ‘I don’t have any, I’m a dialysis patient,’” Ireland said. “I want to empower people to become self-aware and help them see they can reach a point of stability.”

Ireland, who now lives in Georgia with his wife Melissa, also completed a bike tour of the 50 states in 2009, where he went to under-served communities and spoke about dialysis treatment options. Ireland said he was inspired by a man he met in Louisiana. The man had been on dialysis for most of his life, too, and worked as a janitor to give his three children a better life.

“He told me he had no energy to go to work anymore, and he’d be better off dead so his kids could get life insurance money,” Ireland said. “I talked to him for a little bit, and I think I inspired him, but talking to him made me angry — I thought, ‘What can I do?’”

Dr. Whitsan Etheridge, medical director of the Fresenius Medical Care Dialysis Center, said many dialysis patients also deal with heart problems because kidneys and the heart are both part of the vascular system in the body.

Ireland’s visit rounds out “Cardio Awareness Month” in June for the clinic.

“The biggest cause of death for dialysis patients is cardio disease. ... That can be strokes, heart attack, heart failure, even sudden death,” Etheridge said.

Ireland said he is the only dialysis patient to complete the Ironman triathlon, and he attributes his success to a combination of nutrition, exercise and dialysis therapy. Ireland is partners with Fresenius and is proud of the community work they’ve done, he said.

“Fresenius is trying to do proactive health care to prevent the causes of dialysis, engage communities that are at-risk early and keep people out of the hospital,” Ireland said. “I’ve been told I was an anomaly. ... But there are simple things people can do to create stability for themselves.”

Home dialysis therapy and getting regular exercise are just a couple of ways people can reach stability as dialysis patients, Ireland said.

While Ireland still does dialysis for five hours a day, every other day, he trains for athletic events in his spare time. All the goals Ireland was told he couldn’t reach — college, marriage, becoming a professional athlete — have become a reality.

“I’m still that 10-year-old kid who doesn’t want to die,” Ireland said. “I found a light at the end of the tunnel.”