Catch of the day: Carl Gathercole-Smith indulges in one of his great loves off Jurien Bay, Western Australia, while working in the country last year. Carl suffers from a rare condition that has caused his kidneys to fail. He wants to raise awareness about kidney disease so more people can be diagnosed earlier.
Marlborough Express August 6, 2013 Sven Herselman
Being diagnosed with stage five kidney failure was something keen sportsman and avid outdoorsman Carl Gathercole-Smith never imagined. He is on dialysis each night and is awaiting a life-changing transplant.
The condition may have changed his life but Carl refuses to let it get him down, speaking rather about "when" and not "if" he gets a transplant.
He is also keen to talk to anyone who will listen about the condition, teaching people what the symptoms can be and encouraging anyone with them to visit their doctor.
"Chatting to people has made me realise that there doesn't seem to be much awareness out there," Carl says.
"The symptoms are actually pretty easy to pick up and just knowing what they are can make a big difference."
Some of the symptoms were things like being constantly tired, food tasting metallic and foamy urine.
Changes in urine are one of the earliest indicators, Carl says, and it was something he unfortunately took little notice of.
"All you need is one blood test," he says.
"Some friends of mine actually went and got tested after I was diagnosed and one guy found out he has stage two kidney disease, which is early, so he can do a lot more about it than I can."
Reasons for developing the disease vary, but in Carl's case it was as a result of developing IGA nephritis, a rare condition that can cause chronic renal failure.
He had been working in Australia as a material controller on the huge Gorgon Project when he was diagnosed in January last year.
The job was high paying but also extremely stressful, with 26 days on and nine days off. His doctor advised him to head home.
"Once I ended up fainting on the job and woke up on a medivac helicopter," says Carl, who plans to study aquaculture from next year.
"Most of my family and friends are actually in Perth, but the lifestyle here is just so much more relaxed that it is better for me to be here."
For the rest of the year he plans to do a lot of whitebaiting as well as getting into back into hunting and fishing - living the Kiwi lifestyle he left behind when he went to work in Australia in 2002.
Golden Bay will become Carl's home, but he will keep close to his Marlborough roots.
He encourages anyone with symptoms they believe are those of kidney disease to see their doctor as soon as possible.
