Enter the stranger At a social event, Cohen met Suzi Landolphi and her husband David Pritchard, then the CEO of a Hollywood production company and a colleague of Cohen's best friend. But when we met, we had a blast together during the 20 minutes we talked. The party ended and everyone went their separate ways. For Cohen, life and the disease progressed. With no suitable donor available, by April 1999 he was forced onto dialysis, three days a week, fours hours each day.
Dialysis is a tough, painful procedure.
At a hospital or clinic, tubes are inserted into your veins, and you're hooked up to a machine which draws your blood out to purify it. The toxins are removed chemically and mechanically, something your kidneys normally do organically and automatically. Once purified, your blood is pumped back into your body. As depressing as the procedure was, Cohen kept his spirit and his humor. He'd even kiss the older ladies to try and lift their spirits.