Kidney Failure Fails to Stop This Pakistani Freelancer From Fulfilling His Dreams

A young freelancer from Islamabad by the name of Umar Shafique is persevering with his work and is meeting deadlines while simultaneously undergoing dialysis, and is inspiring newbies.

Umair has a degree in Information Technology and has been working as a dedicated freelancer since 2016. His illness, however, is older and more complex than his career as a freelancer.

His battle with chronic kidney and liver diseases began when he was only four years old and he was admitted to a hospital with a complaint of kidney pain. He has been in and out of hospitals for twenty years but his battle continues.

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Umair underwent Lithotripsy in 2009, which is a treatment that uses ultrasound shock waves to break kidney stones so that they may be passed out through the urine. This treatment had given him temporary relief until he was admitted to a hospital again in 2019 for the same ailment.

Due to the complexity of his condition, his doctors advised him to undergo open kidney surgery. He had the first surgery in March 2019 and the second one in September 2019 but could not recover, following which both his kidneys failed.

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It took doctors twenty years to realize only after his both kidney had failed that the culprit had been his liver that had been producing the stones all his life. Umair was then diagnosed with Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1 — a rare disease of which he had a genetic mutation.

Umair’s survival now solely depends on dialysis, which he receives three days a week. The never-ending disease has weakened him so much that he cannot even go to the toilet on his own.

Doctors have now advised Umair to get a combined kidney and liver transplant to stay alive. As his parents are unable to finance another major surgery, Umair has launched a funding campaign on GoFundMe for his surgery expenses. So far, the campaign has managed to raise over $18,500 of the $120,000 required.