Yesterday, as part of World Kidney Day, Dr Trotman wanted to be transparent about the reality of living with kidney failure, which is often seen as a ‘‘silent condition’’, because many people do not realise they have it until it is at an advanced stage.
Dr Trotman, 60, of Dunedin, was diagnosed with kidney failure just as he was about to turn 17, and he went on dialysis while in his final year of secondary school.
‘‘I worked pretty hard to keep going in high school whilst having dialysis treatment, which was pretty brutal in those days — it left you felt pretty unwell afterwards.’’
He was on dialysis for five hours a day, three times a week.
Despite the odds, Dr Trotman finished his secondary education, and applied for medical school, while still undergoing his weekly treatment.
He was, and may still be, the only person to pursue medical school while undergoing dialysis.
‘‘I guess the message I’m trying to get across is that it is possible to live a life on dialysis ... with a lot of support from friends, family, doctors, nurses and cats.
‘‘But a transplant is far better — no more plugging in to a machine, minimal diet issues and travel is much easier.’’
After three years of studying medicine at the University of Otago, Dr Trotman had his first kidney transplant.
That kidney lasted 35 years and, in 2023, a longtime friend gave him another kidney.
‘‘The kidney let me run two careers, a career in medicine and a career in film-making.’’
Dr Trotman has made medical documentaries, worked for Natural History New Zealand, lived in London for six years and Washington for six months, travelled the world and helped raise three children.
When he was first diagnosed, doctors believed his kidney failure was caused by a perfect storm of multiple genes, and he was just unlucky ‘‘they all came together at the wrong time’’.
However, Dr Trotman’s middle child, 24-year-old Caitlyn, was diagnosed with the same kidney problem as her father shortly after her birth, and had a full genetic test done.
They found there was a single letter wrong in Dr Trotman’s and his daughter’s DNA codes.
‘‘One spelling mistake, one letter wrong in the DNA code, one amino acid wrong in the protein, and it doesn’t work properly.’’
Miss Trotman will begin dialysis in about two months’ time.
‘‘I’m immensely proud of her — she has a glomerular filtration rate that means she shouldn’t even be standing up, but she’s just finishing up her master’s degree in wildlife management, she’s just spent some time in Nelson counting tuatara as part of a project and is still working her job.’’
‘‘Caitlyn will almost certainly now end up on dialysis before she has a transplant lined up, and that’s just because there is so many things that get you excluded from being a donor.’’
In New Zealand, thousands of people are living with kidney disease, and hundreds rely on dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive.
The Otago Kidney Society said diabetes and high blood pressure were leading causes of kidney disease, and early testing could make a significant difference.
It encouraged everyone to talk to their general practitioner about their risk factors and have regular check-ups, particularly if there was a family history of kidney disease.
