Cause of Death: Gout

I’ve been waiting to write this post for a while now. It’s a very serious and sad story about what gout really is.  Can gout kill you?  The short answer is “yes”.

One morning, a couple of months ago in August, I got a very sobering phone call out of the blue. I get phone calls everyday from people struggling with gout but not like this one. Through sobs and tears, a woman’s voice asked, “Is This Bert?” I said “yes” and it took what seemed to be an eternity for her to compose herself and I wasn’t sure what to make of it all.

Finally she was able to introduce herself and she was calling to tell me her twin brother had been battling advanced tophaceous gout for the last few years, and was about to give up. His name was Terry and hers is Kerry. I wanted to do whatever I could to help and offered to talk to Terry if it was possible.

Terry and I talked about an hour later and he related his unbelievably difficult journey of gout with me. I said we would need to talk everyday to start to unravel and undo the ravages he’d experienced. We agreed to talk everyday at noon – but that was the one and only time I got to talk to him.

Here is Terry’s gout story as recounted by his loving sister Kerry:

Terry’s Gout Story

My twin brother suffered his first gout attack when he was 27 years old. He had little bouts of it off and on until he turned 40, then all hell broke lose! His stress level skyrocketed, due to a miserable marriage, he started drinking heavier and certainly loved his red meats. Next thing he knows, he is having tophi develop in his hands, feet, knees and elbows. He received treatment, but the Doc that he went to put him on the wrong dosages of Allopurinol and Colchicine, which caused his gout to flourish and damage to his gallbladder occurred. He had his gallbladder removed in 2011 of which caused more problems. The next thing we found, was that the tophi attacked his vital organs and he ended up passing away from kidney, liver and pancreas failure, in September of 2013. Terry suffered horribly and the only consolation I am finding in his death is the fact that he is no longer feeling the pains and disfigurement of this horrible disease called Gout!

Thank you Bert.

What you are doing means so much to me. I have difficulty expressing, in words, how much I feel your thoughts and efforts change the world.  We are gout fighting warriors!!

Thank you brother!

Sincerely,

Jon

. . .

I Used To Say:
“I’ve Had Gout Worse Than Anyone
I’ve Ever Met”

As you can see from the pictures, this is gout at its worst. I had tophi removed from four fingers on my right hand, two on my left, and one of my toes on my right foot . . . but NOTHING like this.

This was obviously a very difficult time for Kerry as well as Terry. I talked and texted often with Kerry through those last weeks of Terry’s life. A day or so after the one and only time I got to talk to Terry, he was soon in the hospital and it took about 10 days before he succumbed.

Kerry was very generous to write the story of Terry’s battle and let me create this post around it. She did so to help bring awareness to all of those struggling with gout that this is indeed nothing to fool around with. Can gout kill you? Yes it can. But it tortures you relentlessly before it does.

The picture of Terry at the top of the page is from only about 10 years ago; he was strong and healthy and loved to pan for gold. As the gout advanced, it brought with it not only pain but depression. Those complications lead to Terry losing his job as an electrician, his wife and family, his house, and finally his life. We all need to realize that this could happen to any of us if we don’t make a serious effort toward gout prevention.

Terry was on the typical gout drugs allopurinol and colchicine and later a pro bono course of Krystexxa that did not work. Please don’t rely on drugs to correct your gout.

So…can gout kill you?

I would like to end this post with thanks and gratitude to Kerry for her unfailing love and devotion to her brother. She was there for him every step of the way to the very end – Thank you for being there Kerry.