LAWRENCE — Harvey Wells doesn't look sick. The ruddy-faced 57-year-old with a Southern drawl and Texas-sized sense of humor doesn't act sick, either.
In fact, he said Monday, "I don't feel sick."
But he is.
Wells, who lives outside Dallas, has end-stage renal disease, meaning both of his kidneys have failed.
Since 2006, dialysis treatments have been keeping him healthy and alive. But until recently they also kept him very close to home, near the clinic he visited for 41/2 hours, three or four days a week, to be hooked up to a machine that cleaned toxins from his blood through a process called hemodialysis.
This summer, however, Wells, his wife and two grandsons are on a dream trip driving around the country, thanks to a portable kidney dialysis machine created by NxStage in Lawrence.
The device, which weighs about 75 pounds and is the size of a 13-inch TV, is mounted on a table inside the 40-foot R/V they're traveling in.
On Monday, Wells and his family made a stop at NxStage, located off South Union Street in the Heritage Place Industrial Park, to pay a visit and say thanks.
"The way I feel and the ability to do this trip is because of the people here," Wells said. "I know what my life was like, and they've basically given me my life back."
It was 15 years ago, when Wells was 42, that he learned he had kidney disease. Three years later he went on dialysis and began making those visits to the clinic. After six months, he got a kidney from his wife. Eight years later, that organ failed, too.
"She wouldn't give me her other kidney," Wells joked.
That meant he was back to the clinic, and could never travel too far from home because he always had to be on time for his next dialysis appointment.
At-home dialysis machines have been available for a while, but are primarily for people who need peritoneal dialysis. Most people with kidney disease, however, are like Wells and need hemodialysis. Clinics generally have been their only treatment option.
NxStage President and CEO Jeffrey Burbank said kidney disease is a growing problem in the country, and NxStage offers a viable alternative to patients who need hemodialysis.
Along with the growing demand, NxStage is growing, too, from $60 million in revenue last year to an expected $120 million this year. The company employs 250 people in Lawrence, and 1,300 worldwide in manufacturing facilities in Europe and Mexico.
When Wells heard about the NxStage product, he spoke with his doctor and they agreed he was a good candidate for the machine that would allow him to do treatments himself — when and where he wants to.
He would also feel better. Whereas before, he felt ill most of the time because toxins would begin to build up in his system within a day after treatment, the portable machine allows for more frequent treatments.
Now Wells typically does dialysis at home more frequently. While traveling, he can plug the machine into a standard electrical outlet in a hotel or at a campsite.
On their trip, Wells and his family are stopping at major American landmarks, including the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful, among others.
And they are visiting kidney dialysis clinics, speaking with patients, doctors and staff to tout the virtues of the NxStage machine, which is covered by insurance.
Burbank was thrilled with the visit from someone who uses the machine.
"Our customer-service people speak with our customers regularly, but we rarely get the opportunity to meet our customers live," he said. "It's a great day for the people who work in the company and a phenomenal day for NxStage."
Wells said that not long ago he wouldn't have dared to imagine taking this trip and spending all this quality time with his grandsons.
"I've talked to a lot of people, a lot of kidney patients, and they want their lives back," Wells said. "They want their lives to be as normal as they can be. We know this doesn't cure our disease, but it gives us a better life."
