As Shad Ireland rode his bike into Arizona in mid May, he was greeted by scorching triple-digit heat. Not a complete surprise for the desert-dwelling locals, but not the desired welcome for a dialysis patient riding more than 4,000 miles cross country to raise awareness of kidney disease.
“I never thought I could drink as much as I could as a dialysis patient,” Ireland joked as he spoke on May 12 to a crowd of more than 100 people in a gymnasium at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a farmland oasis nestled among the urban sprawl of eastern Phoenix. |
| Photo courtesy: Benjamin J. Ireland |
The temperature topped 102 degrees when Ireland arrived to the Valley of the Sun on May 10—a full 10 degrees above normal—but pushing his body’s limits isn’t anything new for Ireland. He was the first dialysis patient to ever finish an Ironman triathlon, which includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a full marathon of 26.2 miles.
However, the springtime desert heat may just be a warm up for Ireland, as temperatures—and humidity—should continue to rise as he rides east on his way to Washington, D.C., where he will end his “What Inspires You” tour on the steps of the Capitol.
People have asked the 37-year-old Minnesotan why he doesn’t just trek north and take advantage of the cooler states, and avoid dehydration. It’s because Ireland wants to take his message of an active lifestyle directly to the people most affected by obesity, diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease. Nowhere are these problems more prevalent than across the American Sun Belt.
The 9,000-member Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community knows this all too well as Arizona Indians have a notoriously high prevalence of diabetes, a leading cause of kidney disease. In fact, the Pima Indians of the Gila River Indian Community—the Salt River’s cousins in southern Phoenix—have one of the world’s highest rates of type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, 50 percent of Arizona’s Pima Indians between 30 and 64 have type 2 diabetes.
