A kidney story straight from the heart

“I now hope to be a light to the 100 million others in the world who are suffering the same thing.” – Billy Esposo

It was a gathering of heavyweights as President Aquino, Vice President Jojo Binay, Speaker Sonny Belmonte, Senators Loren Legarda and Alan Peter Cayetano, former Speaker Joe de Venecia and wife Pangasinan Rep. Gina de Venecia, and several of the country’s movers and shakers descended upon the third floor of the Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4, Makati City for STAR columnist Billy Esposo and his “inside” story.

“Amazing how a kidney can do all this,” quipped an admirer as she viewed the VIP-studded audience at the launching of Billy’s “Surviving Chronic Kidney Disease: The Billy Esposo Kidney Diaries.”

Certainly, Billy was using his clout — to draw attention to a problem that is the 10th leading cause of mortality in the Philippines.

Billy recalled during the launch that his doctors led by nephrologist Claver Ramos urged him to write the book, “because you have the gift of having gone through it, you are on a ring-side seat. To somebody with the disease, you will be sharing a first-hand experience. And you have the gift for writing.”

“My problem is not an easy problem,” Billy confided. “You will hear many people complain about the cost and that’s true. I was calculating the cost for the two years I underwent hemodialysis. It’s something like buying a new car every year, the grade of an Altis. So right then and there you realize that this disease can only be afforded by the people who belong to the class A, B, upper C socio-economic strata. And that’s true because according to global data, about $1 trillion is spent globally to treat Chronic Kidney Disease also known as End Stage Renal Failure. Now, even if many countries are sharing that cost, that is a big strain on the health budget of a developing country. There are easily 100 million people in the world who are affected by Chronic Kidney Disease and in the Philippines, it’s now known to be the 10th leading cause of mortality. Ten thousand entered the stage last year and they need to undergo dialysis.”

Peppered with facts as well as with anecdotes, Billy’s book is at the same time informative and entertaining — it gives tips on how to avoid kidney disease in the first place (yes, keep off too much patis!) and how to survive it if you already have it. He looks at the bright side of even the most difficult of situations, sharing that for the first few hours of dialysis you can have lechon, siopao, even caviar (which he downed with beer at the dialysis room of the Makati Medical Center, I kid thee not). He vividly takes you through the roller coaster of emotions that a patient in search of a kidney goes through. He betrays his soft spot when he mourns for his dialysis “classmates” who have passed on. He talks of great pain (when he calls on all the saints in heaven), but he also exults in the generosity and kindness of the human spirit — as manifested in doctors, friends, even strangers.

“This story is not just about going to hell and back,” says Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros, a close friend of Billy’s. “It is about learning to find heaven while at it.”

Most of all, Billy’s book is a story of hope from the most credible of storytellers — a survivor. From looking mostly at “terminals” during the grimmest days of his illness, Billy proclaims that he is now looking at “horizons.”

Because Billy had a friend, the late Trinidad “Tubby” Fernandez, who had the same illness and gave him a virtual roadmap on how to survive it and what to expect of it, Billy is hoping he could be a “Tubby” to millions others. No, he doesn’t want you to follow in his footsteps. But if you’re already struggling in the same direction, he shows that you can not only survive it — you can become the best that you can be despite it.

“So just as I was gifted (by Tubby), I now hope to be a light to the others in the world who are suffering the whole thing. In so doing, I’m hoping that every person I helped gets to remove the demerit I have up there and add up to the merit,” he joked, showing that one of the best ways to fight kidney disase, and any disease for that matter, is to load up on humor.

And that’s the best gift Billy is giving those who are privileged to read his book — despite bitter pills, sour notes and “just desserts,” never lose your appetite for life!

Why you should read ‘Kidney Diaries’

Dr. Claver P. Ramos: “Billy Esposo has one of the most complicated chronic kidney disease problems that I’ve encountered and it’s a boon to those who will suffer from the disease that he made a diary of his experiences of the last 12 years since he started to undergo hemodialysis treatments up to his kidney transplant in January 9, 2002. His specific medical case can provide other chronic kidney disease patients with a very useful guide on how to cope with their problem...

Joanne Rae Ramirez: “Billy Esposo has always had to fight to live—to live in freedom and democracy, to live with principle, and simply—to live. When told he needed a new kidney to survive, Billy was courageous and relentless anew in his battle. But just as he has had to fight for many things, Billy, too, has been and is the recipient of big miracles. His Kidney Diaries is the diary of man’s conquest of fear and adversity and God’s benevolence.”

Conrad de Quiros: “Billy Esposo has been writing a column for the Philippine STAR for some time now, trying to show this country how it might get out of its desperate straits. But I don’t know that he has given it better advice than the example of his life. He himself has forged his way out of truly desperate straits, fighting a life-and-death battle against a dreaded affliction. He hasn’t just won, he has won brilliantly...

But this book should easily find a much bigger audience than that. This is not just a blueprint for how to survive, this is a guidebook on how to live. This story is not just about going to hell and back, it is about learning to find heaven while at it. It doesn’t just tell about how the author endured the greatest torments of life, which included the deprivation of gustatory delights quite apart from the constant presence of death, it tells about how he discovered the fullness of life, including an appreciation for the life-affirming power of love from family and friends, popes and physicians, lovers and other strangers...

Read it. It won’t just revive your kidneys, it will revive your heart.