Brian Quinlan, bringing coffee to the nurses in the Dialysis unit.

Eight-and-a-half years ago, Brian Quinlan got a call that would change his life forever. He had kidney failure, and would be hooked up to a dialysis machine for nine hours every day.

“Then four years ago, I got another call. They found a donor kidney,” Brian told attendees at recent symposium sponsored by the Peer Support Group with the Scarborough Regional Dialysis Program at The Scarborough Hospital.

While his transplant was a success, Brian described “a hard journey, day by day, hour by hour” leading up to that time. He focused much of his talk on his ability to deal with depression while on dialysis.

“You have no control over the physical condition, but you can control how you deal with it psychologically,” he said. “You own this disease. You need to pay attention to yourself because you can beat this. You have to find the strength, it doesn’t matter where.”

The human mind is an amazing thing, he says, adding that it’s easy to “use the illness as a scapegoat, but you need to push beyond the depression.”

“When I was first diagnosed, I was a bit depressed. But then I realized that I couldn’t lie around crying about it, and from that point on, I became a different person,” he recalls. “I set goals for myself—small goals that were achievable. And with the guidance of TSH dialysis staff, they helped me through the worst time of my life.”

While he stopped dialysis four years ago, Brian still visits staff at TSH, and considers the dialysis team his friends.

“I can’t say enough about these people. As far as I’m concerned, they’re the greatest team I’ve ever met in my life,” he says. “From the day I walked through the door to the day I left, I have nothing but positive things to say about them. They made me feel comfortable. Their focus is the patient.”

Today, Brian still rides his motorcycle and enjoys life to the fullest. His advice to dialysis patients is to live their lives as normally as possible, adding “you’re the strongest part of your life.”

“Don’t isolate yourself from family and friends. Deal with your problems right away. Move forward. If you can get a transplant, get it. If not, deal with it. Don’t let depression control your life,” he concludes.