OGDENSBURG -- An Ogdensburg man has elected to take himself off of a kidney-transplant list because he says a new home dialysis machine has made it unnecessary.

Gary Adams, 70, is retired and spends his time enjoying his family, gardening and woodworking. He has end stage renal disease, which means his kidneys can no longer clean his blood, requiring Adams to undergo dialysis to survive. Unlike most on dialysis, Adams relinquished his spot on the kidney transplant list.

“I’m just not interested in it,” said Adams. “I’m happy with the way I’m living my life now.”

Adams undergoes hemodialysis at home and not at a dialysis center like the majority of Americans who require the treatments. Adams has a small, portable home hemodialysis machine, the NxStage System One, that hooks up to his home’s existing plumbing and electrical systems and provides him with the same treatments that ESRD patients receive in a dialysis center.

Before bringing the machine home to Ogdensburg, Adams and his wife trained in its operation for a few weeks. Once Adams started dialyzing at home, he said he immediately noticed a difference. He was able to dialyze on his own time and more frequently, which was closer to normal kidney function.

Soon Adams was able to stop taking all of his blood pressure medications and regained the energy he had been lacking for years, enabling him to exercise, garden and woodwork again.

“When I was diagnosed with kidney disease, it was a shock,” said Adams. “I had no family history of kidney disease so I had a lot to learn about it. My advice to fellow kidney disease sufferers is to educate yourself about your treatment options and select the treatment that works best for you.”

The NxStage System One is available at Agarwal Renal Center in Ogdensburg.

To talk to a doctor about doing dialysis at home log onto nxstage.com/findadoctor/.