Meet the Cruisers!

Here's a little background on the NxStage Cruisers who will be spending 7 days together on the Caribbean. As you can see, we've got most areas of the country covered - Seattle to eastern Florida, New York to California, and a few spots in between!

Rich B – Rich resides in Skokie, IL and has been on daily home hemodialysis (HHD) since February 2006. Rich is a well-recognized member of the "kidney community," forming online kidney patient communities and serving as a dialysis patient voice in government and media forums. Rich is one of the organizers of the 2010 Freedom Cruise.

Susan B – Susan, from Troy, NY, just started daily HHD in September. This cruise is the first she and her husband, Jeff, have taken since she’s been on dialysis. What makes the trip even more special for the couple is that they will be renewing their wedding vows on the ship and celebrating their 25th anniversary!

Ralph C – Ralph and his wife, Pat, live in upstate New York and are a team in life as well as in his dialysis treatments. Ralph has enjoyed the portability of the system, stating "NxStage not only enables us to travel, it enables us to live again." As a Travel Consultant, Pat is one of the organizers of the 2010 Freedom Cruise.

Ken F – Ken has been doing daily home hemodialysis with the NxStage system for three years and says that the most important benefit to him is the freedom the therapy allows. He and his wife, Catherine, split their time between homes in Glen Falls, NY and Palm Bay, FL, and enjoy traveling with their children and grandchildren.

Jeff G – Jeff lives in Modesto, CA and has dealt with kidney failure for two-thirds of his life, starting in-center hemodialysis at the young age of 17. He started on daily HHD in 2006, and he and his wife Marianne are looking forward to this cruise – their second with the NxStage System One.

Dan L – For Dan, a resident of Salt Lake City, in-center dialysis was extremely hard on his body. He researched other options and started on daily HHD in 2008. He says, "Thanks to NxStage, I’m back to being a productive human being both at home and at work." He and his wife Connie are looking forward to taking this home therapy to sea.

James M –Before starting dialysis James was determined to find the best treatment for him. He learned that daily HHD would not only enable him to do treatments at home, but also allow him to do so on a more frequent basis. James and his wife Jeanne live in Lakewood, WA but they travel extensively to visit their family all over the country.

Bill P – Bill of Seattle is a travel warrior, having visited 21 countries on 5 continents, even while doing traditional, in-center dialysis. Since 2006, he has been doing daily HHD with NxStage and is one of the Freedom Cruise organizers. He is also the owner/editor of the website Dialysis from the Sharp End of the Needle.

Jim S – Jim started home dialysis with the NxStage system in 2007 because, as he states, "I wanted to be able to say when and where I’d do treatments." Jim and his wife Claire spend one half of the year in the Seattle area and one half in Georgia. They enjoy traveling and look forward to bringing dialysis "on the open sea" for the cruise.

Mike S – Mike had a successful transplant for 23 years, but when it failed, he had already researched another option: daily HHD with NxStage. He and his wife Lauri, of Springfield, OR, trained at a center over an hour away, and took the therapy home in February 2008. Mike feels, "If you have to do dialysis, why not do it in the comfort of your own home?"

Lee S – While on daily HHD with NxStage, Lee appreciated being able to fit dialysis into his schedule at whatever time he pleased and the ability to travel between his homes in Saratoga and Long Island. Even though he is no longer on HHD (he had a successful transplant in 2008), Lee and his wife Nancy look forward to traveling and sharing experiences with everyone on the cruise.

Watch for our daily cruise updates beginning January 4, 2010!