Johnny Bell is too busy to be sick.

The East Otago farmer might be living with chronic renal failure, but he just gets on with running Shag Valley Station while undergoing nocturnal dialysis every second night.

Personally determined and an inspiration to his family and friends, Mr Bell (48) has a philosophical approach to his condition, saying there were many others who were ''so much worse'' off.

''You've only got to be in a hospital ward for a day to see really bloody sick people . . . you don't want to go there,'' he said.

Mr Bell is fifth-generation on Shag Valley Station, a 4700ha sheep and beef property between Dunback and Green Valley.

It runs about 6000 ewes, 220 cows and some trading cattle and replacements.

Farming was not always his chosen occupation. After leaving school, he started training for a commercial pilot's licence but when his serious health issues were detected, plans changed.

He completed a degree in marketing and economics at Lincoln University before returning to Shag Valley to farm, following a kidney transplant donated by his mother Louise in 1989.

After 17 healthy years, the kidney failed in 2006, taking the family by surprise and he ''went down in a screaming heap'', his wife Tanya recalled.

Initially, Mr Bell was on dialysis during the day - not particularly helpful when trying to run a farm.

So Mr Bell chose nocturnal dialysis, spending every second night on dialysis for between eight and a-half and nine hours.

Support from his family, friends, neighbours and a farm worker enabled him to run the property.

''We could have easily sold up and lived happily ever after. [But] it's not just my farm, it's the children's as well and Tanya's,'' he said.

While Mr Bell acknowledged his wife was ''the rock'' - ''there's no doubt about that'' - Mrs Bell said it was made easier by her husband being so positive.

''I don't think you think you're sick. I don't think you think you've got a problem. You've just got chronic renal failure,'' she said with a smile.

''It was just another thing you had to factor into your day, without being flip about it. It was something you had to overcome.''

Mr Bell acknowledged it was ''not all beer and skittles'' being on dialysis and his hope was that technology in the future could mean the likes of a mechanical kidney for him.

''I do have that light at the end of the tunnel,'' he said.

In the meantime, while it would be ''relatively easy to sit there and be sorry for yourself'', that was not going to achieve anything.

''I don't have time to think about `I'm sick' or anything. I just get on with it,'' he said, in his matter-of-fact way.

The couple have three children, Lucy (17), Henry (15) and George (13) and the aim was to always ''keep things as normal as possible'' for them.

One difficulty was family holidays, but that was recently solved with the acquisition of a small caravan, which had been fitted-out to accommodate Mr Bell's fairly hefty dialysis equipment.

The family headed to Blenheim in January to watch George play in the South Island primary schools cricket tournament, in what Mrs Bell described as ''quite an adventure''.

While Mr Bell quipped the caravan was a ''fairly large umbilical cord'', which kept him alive, it allowed them greater freedom.

Being involved with his children's schools and activities was important, and he had coached rugby continuously for about 12 years, starting with Henry and before George left for boarding school this year.

While he was ''in a hiatus at the moment'', he would ''never say never'' about a return to coaching duties. He was also on the board of proprietors for John McGlashan College.

''In terms of doing pretty normal things, I do pretty normal things,'' he said.

This week is Kidney Health Awareness Week and today is World Kidney Day.

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