Providence man in need of kidney after being diagnosed with same disease as twin

By: Brittany Comak

Email: bcomak@abc6.com

Twitter: @BComakABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – A 26-year-old Providence man is fighting for his life after being diagnosed with end stage renal disease.

Right now in Alex Peguero’s apartment, his dining room is covered in 26 boxes filled with dialysis supplies.

He’ll need another 26 boxes next month to treat his stage four kidney disease.

“Your kidneys get to a point where they can’t filter waste products,” Alex explained.

Alex was only diagnosed because his twin brother Nick has the same thing.

“You don’t really know how short life is, ” said Nick, who was diagnosed a few years ago.

His condition worsened quickly, and soon after he ended up on dialysis. That’s when Alex decided to see if he’d be a match to donate one of his kidneys.

“I’m thinking that maybe I don’t have it, so I go and get checked myself,” recalled Alex.

Their worlds turned upside down when they learned he would end up in the same position.

“I’m devastated,” recalled Nick hearing of his brother’s diagnosis. “It hit me really hard at first.”

Fortunately after just a year on dialysis, Nick found a donor in Diane Gebhart, who works with his mother.

“That changed my whole life,” said Nick.

And since then he says he’s been living a normal life.

“I don’t have to worry about getting home on time to be hooked up to a machine at night, every day. I live my own life like everybody else – like a normal 26-year-old.”

Now he’s hoping the same will happen for his twin Alex.

“I just hope that the same luck falls in his lap,” said Nick.

“If I had another kidney, I’d do it in a second,” said Gebhart.

As for Alex, it could take 3-5 years for him to find the right person off a transplant list.

“I learned to deal with it,” said Alex. You can’t really pick and choose what you go through. So you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got.”

Alex’s blood type is A+ which can be matched to a donor with blood types: A- A+ O- O+.

You can contact the Rhode Island Hospital Kidney Donor Coordinator at 401-444-3091 if you’re interested in being a donor.

You can find more information at the Go-Fund-Me link his family has set up.

 

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