Staff photo by Raul R. Rubiera Shad Ireland, left, talks to Jack Mond, a dialysis patient at Fresenius Medical Care. Ireland is also a dialysis patient, but it hasn’t stopped him from competing in triathlons.

In 2004, Shad Ireland crossed the finish line of an Ironman triathalon, a race consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

He wasn’t the first to cross, but he finished. Not bad for someone who’s had two kidney transplants and 26 years of dialysis.

Sporting his jersey, Ireland on Monday spent time with patients at Fresenius Medical Care clinics across Fayetteville, talking individually to dialysis patients and spreading his message of hope.

The 36-year-old Minnesota native, who was diagnosed with kidney disease when he was 10, has become an advocate and inspiration for those suffering renal failure.

Ireland’s entire life has been a battle. Now he speaks candidly about his struggle for life, even the low points.

By the time he turned 11, he said, he had attempted suicide. Three more attempts would follow.

“It really was misery,” he said, describing how he vomited after treatments and struggled to find the energy to go to school.

When he was 16, doctors told him he wouldn’t survive beyond his 25th birthday.

His dreams of becoming a lawyer or a professional athlete instantly faded.

“I was given every reason to give up,” he said.

He gave up hope and got involved with drugs and alcohol, and he started skipping treatments.

“I was in so much pain emotionally,” he said.

When he was 18, he received his first transplant. But he had another setback in store; it didn’t work.

But it was after he lost the transplant that he found inspiration.

Home from the hospital with an unfavorable prognosis, Ireland lay in pain on his mother’s couch when he began watching the Ironman competition on television.

“I was just some 75-pound kid laying on a couch in Minnesota,” he said. “But I made a promise that some day that would be me.”

Years later, he made that promise a reality. Despite the doubts from doctors, Ireland put in countless hours of training and crossed the finish line in July 2004.

Since then he has traveled across the country to encourage others suffering from kidney disease to not give up on their lives.

“In other dialysis patients, I see myself,” he said.

One of those patients is Jack Mond, 59, who has been on dialysis for nearly 28 years.

Ireland approached Mond on Monday as he received his dialysis and asked him his secret.

“My secret?” said Mond, smiling. “Faith, a supportive family and moderation.”

Mond said that it sometimes upsets him that he can’t do normal activities such as taking his family on vacation.

“It can be done, but it’s just the little nuisances,” he said.

Andrea Hooper, a RightStart case manager, said that when new patients come to receive dialysis, they often lose hope when they see others who have been on dialysis for years.

“But you can live a full life,” she said.

Ireland plans to continue living a full life. Next year, he plans to bike across the country, visiting dialysis patients along the way.

His goal is to qualify for the Ironman world championship in 2010.

“It’s important for me to follow through with my promise,” he said.

Staff writer Meghan Cooke can be reached at cookem@fayobserver.com or 486-3587.