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Making a Contribution
Chuck Bowman, 53, of Hutchinson, Kan., started dialysis in 2000. The former construction company manager was forced to go on disability when his kidney disease progressed to the point where he lost much of his eyesight and mobility.
Chuck says his feelings of self-worth took a nosedive, and he grew depressed. “When you can’t work anymore, you just feel useless. Many of us measure ourselves by the work we do,” Chuck says. “When you don’t work, that measure is zero.”
Chuck says after a few months of going to dialysis and listening to other frustrated and depressed patients, he made up his mind that he was going to work, no matter that he’s blind in one eye and has only limited sight in his other eye.
“I looked for a job and couldn’t find anything physically suited to what I could do,” Chuck says. “So I looked into going back to school to get training for a new line of work. I had used computers in the past and I can see an illuminated computer screen. I focused on studying website design. Although I lose feeling in my hand, Web technology uses point-and-click movements I can do.”
Chuck applied for a laptop computer from the state of Kansas so he could do his homework during dialysis. He is now working toward finishing his associate’s degree and then plans to attend a four-year college so he can teach Web technologies.
“Things are never as bad as you think they are. I felt as though I still had a lot to contribute,” Chuck says. “My family supports my decision to pursue teaching because they told me that’s what I needed to be doing. In one way or another, I have always been a teacher.”
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