/ Michelle Adams-Walton, who has been on dialysis for the past 17 years, poses for a portrait at TownPlace Suites by Marriott in Austin on March 6, 2021.
Early on, coronavirus transmission exploded at dialysis clinics, especially in the Rio Grande Valley. It has subsided some since, but many patients have no choice but to show up at clinics for the life-sustaining treatments.
Artemio Martinez noticed a stranger in the chair next to his when he showed up for kidney dialysis last April. Usually, the same woman sat there, and he would chat with her during the four-hour-long treatment.
“She was by me, like my dialysis partner,” Martinez said. “We told each other stories, we talked about life .. and the people that are going through the same thing you’re going through are like your family.”