From dialysis patient to professional caregiver: Why Stephon Harris's work is personal

When Stephon Harris begins his shift as a dialysis technician, he brings a perspective most technicians don't have when caring for kidney failure patients — because when his workday ends, he heads home to begin his own dialysis.   

The beginning of a journey 

Stephon's kidney journey began in 2023, when he started experiencing extreme lethargy and exhaustion and changes in the color of his urine. At first, Stephon didn't think that something was seriously wrong. "You just figure 'maybe it's something I ate, maybe it's something I drank,'" he said. "You just try out all types of stuff before you actually check into the hospital."  

However, his symptoms became impossible to brush off, and he went to the hospital to get answers. Once there, Stephon received shocking news: he was in kidney failure and would need to begin dialysis immediately. "I got a catheter put in my chest, started dialysis in the hospital and then got shipped out to do in-center [dialysis]," he said.  

As someone who was employed, Stephon quickly realized that in-center dialysis was not going to work for him because his treatments took up a lot of time and left him with little energy. "I didn't want to do anything but sleep, eat and sleep," he said about his time in between sessions. Knowing he had to make a change, Stephon decided to do home hemodialysis instead.  

A change in modality leads to a new purpose 

The switch to home dialysis gave Stephon exactly what he wanted: more free time and more energy. It also motivated him to help others.  

"After I learned all the skills I needed to learn [to perform my own dialysis treatments], I wanted to become the dialysis tech that I wanted to see while I was doing dialysis in-center," he said. Specifically, Stephon wanted to bring a person-centered approach to the job. "I knew that if given the chance, I would make a difference," he said.  

Stephon applied for and got a job as a technician at a local dialysis clinic in Richmond, Virginia — a job Stephon says can be difficult but also very rewarding.  

"It's long hours, with early mornings and late nights sometimes, but I love what I do," he said. "[I love] that I can be the technician that the patients can relate to, talk to and grab for anything. I feel like I relate to everybody in that clinic in some way." 

While Stephon said he encourages the patients he works with to switch to home dialysis if they can, he understands that not everyone is able to make that switch. "If you're unable to ... I try to make your experience in clinic the best experience that you could have," he said. "Typically, it's cold, and I try to keep everybody warm, keep the TVs and blood pressure cuffs clean, and get [people] a working chair." 

In addition, Stephon said patients will ask him for advice about a variety of issues, including how to manage work while on dialysis and how to relax and unwind from the stress and exhaustion dialysis can often cause. "You've got to find some types of hobbies," Stephon said he tells his patients. For Stephon, one of those hobbies is gardening.  

"I wanted to make my garden sustainable and a place where I can actually feed myself," he said. "That was the main reason I started gardening, and it turned into a beautiful hobby. It became my place of Zen, if you will. The garden is where I go to reset after a long day."  

Looking toward the future 

Stephon is currently in school studying to be a dialysis registered nurse (RN), so he can take his work with dialysis patients to the next level. He said he has long had an interest in nursing, but he never really pursued it. "[Getting kidney disease] kind of slingshot me into it," he said. 

And while Stephon plans to work with dialysis patients for the foreseeable future, he's hoping to be able to move off dialysis himself, as he waits for a kidney transplant — something he said would be lifechanging.  "[Being off] dialysis would free up a lot of my time," he said. "I have at least four treatments a week, so it's hard for me to plan and work and go to school all at the same time. I can't wait to travel and see the world." 

Resources:  

Dialysis 

Meet your treatment team: Dialysis technician 

Mental health and kidney disease