Richard Gere and Julia Roberts had obvious chemistry upon their first meeting. However, Richard was not planning on taking the role. He was on the phone ready to turn down the part when Julia slid him a post-it note with the words please say yes written on it.
Without life-sustaining dialysis or a kidney transplant, once a person with kidney disease reaches Stage 5 (end stage renal disease (ESRD)), toxins build up in the body and death usually comes within a few weeks. The decision to stop treatment should be an informed and voluntary choice.
In general, hospice patients have six months or less to live. When patients living with kidney failure choose to forgo dialysis, how long they can live depends on the amount of kidney function they have, how severe their symptoms are and their overall medical condition.