ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: Defying Dialysis, Man Bikes Across Country

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Just for surviving after two failed kidney transplants and living long beyond the prognosis of six months he was given at age 20, Shad Ireland is already a medical marvel. But in early August, he biked 4639 miles - from California to the steps of the U.S. Capital - to draw attention to the 500,000 people with kidney failure currently living on dialysis.

“For me to be on dialysis for 27 years, for me to do two triathlons, has really got the medical community scratching their heads,” Ireland said. After Ireland’s second failed kidney transplant in 1994, he was lying on the couch, weighed 79 pounds and was barely able to move when he was inspired by footage of two women dragging themselves to the finish line of a triathlon. It took nearly a decade, but in 2003 he was healthy enough to start training.

“If you asked any doctor, if you told them about me, they would say it’s impossible. My kidney failure started when I was 10 years old,” said Ireland. “This all started with a promise I made to myself in the early 90s. I was going to use every day I had left in the world to the best of my ability.”