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The End of Keith Moguel's Journey
posted (August 26, 2009)

Kidney patient Keith Moguel died last night. The 22 year old passed away at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital from complications of the flu and other related infections. Kidney patients often don’t make it but Keith’s death is news tonight because it is a sad and unexpected end to a story we’ve been following since May. Keith had laid bare the grim terms of his condition to the public and had shown hope in the face of overwhelming adversity. But his fight ended yesterday – just three weeks after he returned home to Mango Creek. At 4 pm, he was rushed by helicopter back to Belize City and to the KHMH where he died around 8 pm. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Our journey with Keith Moguel began on May 13th.

[May 13th, 2009]
Keith Moguel,
“Three times a week, every week. Three hours. Monday Wednesday and Friday.”

That wasn’t Keith’s class schedule, it was a life schedule because both his kidneys had collapsed and his survival depended on a hemodialysis machine.

Keith Moguel,
“I have a machine doing what your kidney should do and it is just, I don’t know how to explain it but at first it was kind of difficult, if you want to put it like that, to see something that but you get use to it. You get to depend on it because without it you will die.”

It is a reality that haunted the 22 year old.

Keith Moguel,
“This is something real difficult to deal with financially, emotionally, physically. I wish I could do all the things I used to do before because I am young, 22. I shouldn’t have had to deal with this.”

But he did have to deal with it and he did so – always remaining upbeat.

Keith Moguel,
“So I just try and have a sunny outlook on things but I would really want a kidney transplant.”

Over time though it took a toll on the 22 year old and that sunny outlook dimmed. When we met him on July 19th, he was sitting in front of the operating room at the Healthcare Partners Hospital awaiting surgery. He had gone two full weeks without dialysis because his veins had collapsed.

[July 9th, 2009]
Keith Moguel,
“Things have taken a turn for the worst, just like I feared that was going to happen. I haven’t gotten dialysis for two weeks because of the catheter, I can’t use the catheter because of that blood clot so no dialysis for two weeks.”

Keith Swift,
“What has it been like?”

Keith Moguel,
“You want the real answer, it’s been like hell and really scary.”

But as scared as he was, Keith as always had that one thing: hope. He invited us into the operating room as he underwent an intense and painful half hour procedure to install a catheter so that he could receive peritoneal dialysis.

Keith Moguel,
“Yeah I try to stay optimistic because if you start thinking that I am going to die or whatever, that mentality takes over and eventually your body just decides I am going to give up. I’ve seen it happen with a lot of people, they just literally give up and die.”

Keith Swift,
"And you’re not ready to do that?"

Keith Moguel,
“Noh yet. When I get too tired I will mek you know.”

But the last time we saw Keith, he was far from tired. A month after the surgery he appeared to have gotten a new lease on life. He was upbeat, excited, and as always optimistic that for the first time in a long time, he would be returning home.

[August 4th, 2009]
Keith Moguel,
“As you can see I am looking much better than I did couple weeks ago. Like I said I am just happy to go home. I miss my family.”

That happiness was short-lived. Keith died at the KHMH last night.

Collet Montejo, Belize Healthcare Partners
“He caught the flu but at the same time I believe that the entire process of the peritoneal dialysis that he got, because the training that we did was with another family member and then him moving down there, more than likely there was a lapse in how the treatment should have been provided to him.”

Keith Swift,
“So his death could have been prevented?”

Collet Montejo,
“I believe it was. I believe his death was a clear case of it, it was a premature death.”

Keith Swift,
“So you think it was a mistake for Keith to go home?”

Collet Montejo,
“I believe that there may have been a lapse in care. That is what things are looking at as it is right now.”

Keith Moguel didn’t die as the young man from Mango Creek who needed help – he had become a nationally known figure – a man who had the courage and the hope to offer the wider community a portal into the life of a person fighting for his life. That he is dead at 22 is testament to the hard fact that with kidney failure – hope and hemodialysis aren’t always enough o make it out of the tunnel of illness.

Collet Montejo at the Healthcare Partners Hospital says a source of funding had already been identified to pay for Keith’s kidney transplant surgery. He however needed $5,000 for the compatibility tests. Even if Keith Moguel had gotten the transplant, he would have still needed to spend thousands of dollars monthly for anti-rejection medication. A funeral service has been planned for Thursday in Mango Creek.

And if you are questioning the effectiveness of peritoneal dialysis, according to Montejo two other patients underwent surgery similar to Keith on July 9th and they are in good health. He again believes it all has to do with the level of home care.

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