Harry Reynolds: Finding Comfort at Home

Harry Reynolds has spent a lifetime being the one others lean on.

A Marine. A construction worker. A father of four daughters. A grandfather and great-grandfather. The man who taught his girls to change a tire, solve a problem, admit when they were wrong, and never stop learning.

Even now, his daughter Jill says, the family still comes to him first. "If we have a problem, we all still go to Dad," she says. "He's the one who always solved the problems."

At 92, Harry remains a steady presence — and a lifelong New York Giants fan, loyal since 1950. He has always admired Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells, whose best-known saying is simple: "You are what you are." That line suits Harry just fine. When kidney failure changed his life a year and a half ago, he met it the way he has met everything else: honestly, and with determination.

"I had a good thing going," Harry says. "I could pretty much handle anything that happened until this hit me."

He started with in-center dialysis, but the experience left him worn out — often feeling unwell just as it was time to go back again. When he transitioned to peritoneal dialysis at home nearly a year ago, things began to change.

At home, Harry found comfort, familiarity, and a routine he could live with. Each evening, his daughter Jill — his primary care partner — helps prepare his overnight treatment. Together, they monitor his blood pressure, weight, glucose levels, and temperature, using the education and tools provided by his Fresenius Kidney Care Jacksonville West team.

"He isn't weak," Jill says. "Since he's been home, I actually see a big difference in his mood, his outlook."

She puts it simply: "His personality started coming back."

For a man who spent decades caring for others, accepting help has not always been easy.

"She now has to take care of me every day," Harry says of Jill. "I need help, and she takes care of me very good." But to Jill, it is not a burden. It is part gratitude, part love, and part of everything her father taught her.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that we could do this together," she says. "We make a great team."