An active outdoorsman all his life, John Hoffman took in the scene on a Saturday morning from the sedentary vantage point of a couch. He was three days from getting a new kidney, and he was tired.

His medullary cystic kidney disease, a rare inherited disorder, had progressed to end-stage kidney failure.

"It was either go on dialysis or get a kidney transplant," John said. "Or die."

Dialysis is not a desirable long-term solution. The procedure, which cleans the blood when the kidneys can't, shortens lifespan and diminishes quality of life, said John's doctor, nephrologist Raymond Heilman of Mayo Clinic Arizona.

With about 90,000 Americans registered for a deceased-donor kidney transplant, the average wait is five years, Heilman said. John didn't have that much time.

The Arizona Republic, by Connie Midey, 2-28-2010

Tags: Mayo Clinic Arizona, Transplant