Patient story: Todd Rice

The successful surgery has allowed Todd to return to work in the business he runs with wife Zoe and focus on newborn son Alexander.

Todd was 19 when he became seriously ill with a virus. It was during this period that he was also diagnosed with brittle diabetes. As is the case with brittle diabetes, Todd found his blood sugar levels were difficult to regulate.

“It didn’t matter whether I ate sugar or not, my sugars would be just all over the place. I could get up one morning and be perfect and have breakfast and 10 minutes later I'd be through the roof, but the next day I could get up and have a bit of a shocking reading, then eat breakfast and then 10 minutes later be low,” he said.

“We even went through years of my wife waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning and checking my sugars while I was sleeping and things like that.

“At one point, I even ate pretty much the exact same meal every day to see if that helped.”

Despite the complexities of managing his diabetes, Todd continued to focus on living life.

But about three years ago, he began to develop issues with his kidneys.

“I began to notice that my legs were swelling up, holding a lot of fluid. I went to the doctor and tests showed my kidney function had dropped. I think then it might have been in the high 30 per cent then. ” Todd said.

“We spent probably the best part of two years, changing diets, doing everything we could, to try to sort of stretch out the length of the kidney, but also see if the kidney would heal itself and whatnot. 

But it didn't matter what we did. As each month went by, it just kept sort of dropping, percentage by percentage.”

For Todd, the physical symptoms of his condition became more severe. “It got to a point where I couldn't even work more than sort of half a day,” he said.

“My legs would swell, I couldn't bend, couldn't put clothes on properly in the afternoon and things like that. I was constantly out of breath. I could work in the mornings and then have to come home in the afternoon and put my legs in the air to let the fluid sort of wash away to be able to walk around.”

Around December 2021, Todd began working with staff at Griffith Base Hospital’s Renal Unit, where he began undergoing haemodialysis. Undergoing the haemodialysis brought improvements in Todd’s health almost immediately.

He underwent dialysis three days a week, with each session taking close to six hours.

“Dialysis is not fun, but the difference I felt was amazing. Once I started, I was able to work better, function better. Everything was a lot better.

“The only thing obviously was the time it takes. I was losing hours from work and losing days in the week and whatnot. But my wife and I sort of made it work. Obviously it wasn't fun, but it was helping me cope with everything, and get me through the day.”

About a year after he began receiving haemodialysis, in December 2022, Todd and Zoe travelled to Sydney so they could meet the transplant team at Westmead.

“They said to me that it would probably be within the next 6 to 12 to 18 months that something could come up,” he said.

But Todd’s waiting time turned out to be shorter than that.

“I got the phone call on the 24th of February 2023 at about 5.30 in the afternoon and had to be at Sydney by 7am the next day,” he said.

“Zoe was just over 36 weeks pregnant and needed to get clearance to travel, so I called my parents as well.”

Todd and his parents headed off to Sydney by road, while Zoe flew after receiving a clearance to travel. Zoe spent three days with Todd immediately after his surgery before returning home to Griffith on medical advice.

Todd remained in hospital for 10 days, then spent a few more weeks as an outpatient as he underwent follow-up appointments. With Zoe’s due date approaching, the couple were hoping Todd could be back in Griffith before their baby’s birth.

He made it back home to Griffith with two days to spare and was on hand when baby Alexander was born. 

Having undergone both a kidney and pancreas transplant, Todd is no longer having to deal with diabetes or dialysis. In the weeks since his transplant, Todd has been healing, adjusting to life as part of a family of three and planning for the future.

But he found time, almost immediately after his return to Griffith after his transplant, to pay a visit to the Renal Unit and thank the staff for their care. 

“When you are having dialysis, you spend a lot of time there. The staff feel like friends,” Todd said. And no matter what is going on, the staff members are there with smiles on their faces, caring for their patients.”