The following summaries are true accounts of patience, perseverance, determination and courage, which were submitted to the 2008 AAKP Says I Can! campaign.  We hope you find inspiration, hope and support in what other people whose lives have been touched by kidney disease have to say.

2008 AAKP Says I Can! winner
Who Says I Can’t Bike 600 Miles? AAKP Says I Can!
April 1, 2002 was the first day I had dialysis.  Everyone told me that things would be fine, it was hard believe, by the way I felt.  One day I asked about the exercise bikes that some of the patients were using.  A RN proceeded to tell me the benefits that could be derived from using the stationary bikes.  I started riding after the staff physical therapist checked me out and advised me how to proceed with an exercise program.  By summer I was riding at least one hour during treatment at a speed of four miles per hour.  On good days I would ride my recumbent bike the seventeen miles to dialysis.  I decided to ride to Bay City, Michigan in July- August of 2005.  When the staff heard about what I was planning they thought I could do it and encouraged me.  I worked with my social worker to set up nine dialysis centers over the three-week period.  The distance was about 600 miles. The social worker at the last dialysis center worked hard to prepare for my arrival.  She greeted me with a finish line, which was set up outside the dialysis center.  In March 2007 I received a kidney transplant.

Wilfred Dow
Waterloo, Wisconsin

2008 AAKP Says I Can! winner
Who Says I Can’t Finish School? AAKP Says I Can!
My journey started when I was 21 years old. I was diagnosed with FSGS, I was devastated, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I didn’t believe that this was happening to me.  I was angry, I remember thinking to myself, I’m only 21, how could this be.  However, after every storm there is a rainbow.  I felt like I was on top of the world, I was balancing working full-time, going to school full-time, all while managing my chronic illness which was getting progressively worse through the years.  My kidneys failed and at 27 years old, I had to start Hemodialysis. I couldn’t give up now, no matter what.  I decided to stay in school.  My positive attitude and determination paid off, because I graduated with a BA in Psychology. I was blessed with a guardian angel; I was blessed with a sister that wanted to donate her kidney to me.  So only after 2 months of being on dialysis I received a new kidney from my sister.  I believe that you shouldn’t let your disease define who you are or dictate your life for you.  You have to keep living; you have to keep pushing on.
 
Betsy Calloway
District Heights, Maryland

2008 AAKP Says I Can! winner
Who Says I Can’t Be a Distance Runner? AAKP Says I Can!
When I was 23 years old I went for a job interview.  The company doctor found albumin in my urine.  He sent me to an Urologist, and wrote on my application, “Not Recommended for Hire.” I was crushed, I was sure they would not hire me but they did.  The Urologist results were that I was loosing my kidney function and would be on dialysis in 4 or 5 years.  I was very nervous and sad because I knew there was no turning back; my life would be different.  My husband and I did home-Hemo for three and one half years and I got my transplant in 1982.  This started a whole new chapter in my life.  I had energy to do things I had not done for many years.  I was able to go back to college and earn my BA.  I was able to go on some fabulous trips and not to mention seeing my little girl grow up, get her masters and start her life.  I became a long distance runner and won several trophies for my age group.  I kept my kidney for 22 ½ years before I lost it.  This time I opted for peritoneal dialysis and it has worked out great. My husband, my biggest supporter, said “no matter what you have gone through, you have always kept a positive attitude.”

Mary Sheppard
Riverview, Florida

Who Says I Can’t Travel? AAKP Says I Can!
It was April 1993, at the age of 40, when I became a kidney dialysis patient.  I asked lots of questions in order to understand my diagnosis of Membranous Glomerulonephritis and what I needed to know about living with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). There was even a positive aspect to being on dialysis.  By being a model patient, I lost quite a bit of weight.  I liked the slimmer me. In August, my husband and I went on an African safari to Tanzania and Kenya.  This trip was the most amazing experience of our lives.  I felt great about the way I looked.  Since all the clothes I took along were big on me, I decided to donate them to African charities by leaving them in the lodges we stayed in along the way.  After all, I’ve changed my eating habits and I will never need those clothes again!  I returned home with a near empty suitcase.

Linda H.
New York

Who Says I Can’t Have a Career? AAKP Says I Can!
I was a stay at home mom for my now two teenage daughters, the hardest job any person can ever have, but the most rewarding. Ready to start my career in Real Estate my 3rd child was on his way. The towing of a toddler, doing dialysis four times a day, meeting with my clients and the normal mom and wife duties I didn’t want to stop.  I was asked many times, why don’t you go home, rest, give up Real Estate.  Those words were not in my vocabulary!  I was determined that ESRD, dialysis, waiting for a kidney and the recovery from a transplant was not going to control my life. 

Lisa G.
Arkansas

Who Says I Can’t Have the Same Energy I had at 40? AAKP Says I Can!
Today, my life is perfect.  I have the energy I had when I was 40, almost thirty years ago.  I accepted that this was really happening to me.  No more deluding myself that “this too will pass.”  I had important decisions to make- to continue dialysis for the rest of my life or to find a new kidney.  Because of my daughters encouragement I decided to find a new kidney.  I have a very active life organizing and presenting educational organ donor seminars for ADI, the Israel Organ Donor Organization, providing encouragement and guidance to those needing a transplant, and video taping interviews of people seeking a transplant for publication on the HODS organ donor society web site… This is the life I had hoped to have at my age.

Judith N.
Israel

Who Says I Can’t Live as an Ordinary Person? AAKP Says I Can!
I am a simple person living an ordinary life. I thought my life would be over when they told me I needed dialysis. I’m an ordinary person living an ordinary life because of an extraordinary thing like dialysis which cleans my blood every day.  I can live my life.  To others it may seem mundane, but to me it is living.  To me hugging and talking and working and cooking and feeling the wind on my face, this is living.  I feel pain and anguish, joy and happiness the same as any other person.  I love and am loved, I live and can live thanks to dialysis.  I can live each day. I do live each day.  I truly CAN.

Amy S.
Missouri

Who Says I Can’t Play Sports? AAKP Says I Can!
I am a 16-year-old male and was diagnosed in early 2007 with Chronic Kidney Disease.  I am a tight end on my high school football team and want other teens and doctors who may be more conservative to know that many kids can continue with these activities that are so important to our lives. I am looking to basketball season as well and will probably run track in the spring. You can live the life you want with kidney disease.

Ryan K.
Maryland

Who Says I Can’t Take Charge of My Healthcare? AAKP Says I Can!
I knew the day was coming, thanks to my sister willing to give me a kidney. She knew I was a wife and mother and that I was needed.  I had been on dialysis for almost two years.  Over the years since on dialysis and after the transplant I’ve learned that educating myself was the best way to take care of my health.

Loretta C.
Texas

Who Says I Can’t Do Everything I Want to? AAKP Says I Can!
I returned to work five months after my transplant, in April 2006. Since that time I helped write a federal grant, got a promotion to a very demanding position, travel for business and pleasure, dance, entertain, hike, cook and enjoy romantic weekends away with my husband even more. Most recently I returned to working out in the gym, going to Yoga classes and have been working with a Pilates coach. It is sad that I suffered complete renal failure but, if I had to weigh what I lost and what I gained…no contest.

Laura W.
New York

Who Says I Can’t Be the Same Person I was Before Dialysis? AAKP Says I Can!
So here I am today, fully entrenched in my life as a dialysis patient, but working hard not to let that define me totally. I am, more importantly, a husband, a parent, a son, a friend, an employee, a co-worker, a volunteer and hopefully a well-rounded human being. In spite of my lack of kidneys, in spite of my almost daily dialysis, I’m leading a life fairly close to the one I lived before all this happened. Had you asked me a few months ago if I thought this was possible, I would have said “no way.” But time, love, patience, modern technology and the support of great professionals has made it possible.

Kevin R.
Kentucky

Who Says I Can’t Be a Coach? AAKP Says I Can!
I didn’t want to give up on life simply because I was connected to a machine 4 and a half hours, three times a week.  So I decided to LIVE.  Even after I was put on dialysis, I was able to work with my employer and still work full time with minimal time out of the office. My job responsibilities require me to travel, and I have not missed a beat! This past spring and fall I coached my son’s YMCA 4th grade flag football team, and I plan to continue next year. I was afraid at first, but the chains of fear have been broken, and my freedom has allowed me to move forward with my life.

Delmer E.
Nebraska

Who Says I Can’t Captain My Boat? AAKP Says I Can!
After seeing what PKD had done to my family, my wife and I decided that we should enjoy life while we could. I took an early retirement offer; we bought a 37-foot boat and cruised all over the place, the best being a one-year trip to Florida via the Intracoastal Waterway, across to the Gulf of Mexico, down to Key West and back to Connecticut. We have found that with some advanced planning, dialysis need not be a major impediment to our being able to live almost as normally as we had in the past.

Brian T.
Florida

Who Says I Can’t Sing? AAKP Says I Can!
Dialysis has changed my life dramatically but hasn’t kept me from enjoying life.  I can swim, use the hot tub, play tennis, etc. I have met and talked to people I never would have known without dialysis.  They have enriched my life. I started singing in the choir again each Sunday, and sing a solo occasionally.

Gervys B.
Ohio

Who Says I Can’t Be Funny? AAKP Says I Can!
Healthcare was a vague subject prior to my kidney disease.  When I was first diagnosed, kidney failure was unknown to me. My hobbies include reading, painting, bowling, sketching, scrap booking, cooking, family outings and lunch with friends, but not limited to only these things.  Humor is also a part of my life.  I love jokes and living a lifestyle with some humor in it.  I feel that humor can be a way to ease off tension and stress.  It is good for one’s health no mater what situation you are in. With each day there’s a new chapter of my life that I know “I Can.”

Gracie C.
California

Who Says I Can’t Do This? AAKP Says I Can!
My story began in 2002 when my kidneys deteriorated from Focal Segmental Scoliosis.  At this time I thought my life was done. As time went on, I realized that I can do things and be active like I was prior to kidney disease. I was determined and started thinking positive. I kept thinking “I can do this.” When I wake up I look forward to doing things and don’t feel like it’s just another day. I go out on weekends, work as a volunteer in the food pantry, ride motorcycles, and enjoy new things all the time. I want people to know that “Yes, you can do this.”

Julie S.
Ohio

Who Says I Can’t Be a Positive Example to Others? AAKP Says I Can!
Challenge is a natural progression of my journey, which began 27 years ago when I went to my physician’s office for a routine physical. I will never forget hearing the words, “you have 50 percent kidney function.” I was devastated as are we all who hear those words.  In those days there were no informational Web sites (there was no Web!) or dialysis companies providing information. I have been working with my health challenge for a number of years all the while trying to serve as an example to others. My message has always been kidney disease should not imply the sum total of who we are, but it is a component, which can be managed just as any other of life’s challenges.

Alice M.
Virginia

Who Says I Can’t Do Everything I Want? AAKP Says I Can!
Yes I Can! I can have life while I am on dialysis.  I can have life after a kidney transplant. I can have an active, fruitful, fun-filled school experience.  I can have a productive community and social affiliation.  I can serve in my church.  I can join clubs and organizations. I can go on trips. I can! I can! Yes I can!!!...

Gwendolyn J.
Louisiana

Who Says I Can’t Design Jewelry? AAKP Says I Can!
My greatest accomplishment to date has been to create and cultivate the life that I truly wanted. I might never have achieved this unless adversity and medical chaos first shook me to my bones. Once I accepted the loss of my kidney function and understood it didn’t define me, something else fell into place. I began to see dialysis as another chance at life, not as punishment. By designing jewelry, I redesigned my life. I've learned that attitude; optimism and humor help open the proverbial doors when a passage seems blocked. Beads and jewelry have helped me come back to an active life that holds creativity as its essence. I have found the kind of work that is necessary to feed my soul. No longer mired down by sickness and sadness, I have found balance.

Myra S.
Illinois

Who Says I Can’t Make a Difference? AAKP Says I Can!
When I was first diagnosed with kidney failure in 2000 “I can” was definitely not in my vocabulary. Even though I worked as a Patient Care Technician at the dialysis center it did not prepare me for being on the other side of the treatments. I now advocate for patients’ rights, and I try to educate pre-dialysis and dialysis patients. If you would have told me that I would be making a difference like this eight years ago I would have probably laughed. Now my vocabulary is full of I cans. I can live with kidney failure and lead a productive life. I can make a difference, and you can too!

Malaysia S.
Alabama

Who Says I Can’t Tackle a Challenge Head On? AAKP Says I Can!
All my life I have been chafing at the bit to move on and try new challenges. I do volunteer work in various capacities at the local hemo unit. I have given talks on being a peritoneal dialysis patient. My life has been long and fulfilled and just as when I was 4, I look forward to the next challenges and adventures which I am able to face head on due largely to the many advances in the renal field and the many people in that field who have helped me.  Life is still abundant and good!

Beverly S.
North Carolina

Who Says I Can’t Be a “Hotshot”? AAKP Says I Can!
When I was 22, I considered myself a “hotshot”, college degree, great job potential, enthusiastic about travel, adventure, opportunities yet untapped.  I could do anything! In May, 2006 I began dialysis, thinking that while this will sustain my life, its quality was compromised.  I didn’t want to travel, I really could only do minimal outside activities, and even my passion for gardening and cooking waned.  I stopped volunteering, trying to conserve energy and focus on maintaining my strength and health. Yet, there was an increasing awareness that age and my health would affect transplant options. The transplant was successful from the first day.  No more dialysis was required, my spirits soared and I loved everyone.  Probably the happiest patient on the surgical ward, I just couldn’t stop rejoicing and thanking and appreciating being alive. I volunteer as a GED instructor, am a speaker, volunteer plus participate in various church charities.  My new “destiny” is to increase awareness of the prevalence of kidney disease and its remedies. There are many fallacies about transplantation; I represent the benefits.  It’s a story I never tire of telling.

Mary Lou N.
New Mexico

Who Says I Can’t Get a Masters Degree? AAKP Says I Can!
Booker T. Washington once said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”  These simple yet profound words echo my life story.  Beginning at age seven, my life became one fraught with emotional and physical upheavals.  Yet strength seems to materialize when it is needed most. It makes its appearance at the most opportune moments.  In the spring of 2002 I applied to enter the graduate program.  In December 2003 I graduated with a Masters of Science in Health Care Administration. Nearly twenty years since my diagnosis, life is great.  A kidney transplant coupled with large doses of faith, courage and perseverance have brought me here.  If my story can teach anything I hope it teaches everyone whom it reaches that kidney disease is not an automatic death sentence.  Dialysis does not mean you are close to dying.  It is like so many other illnesses – not curable but treatable.

Melissa M.
Kentucky

Who Says I Can’t Do What I Was Doing Before Dialysis? AAKP Says I Can!
I can do everything I was doing before I started dialysis.  I never doubted it for a minute.  It takes attitude, the right attitude.  I decided a long time ago that this would not slow me down.  A year before I started dialysis a doctor friend of mine who is a dialysis patient said to me, “remember you are not a patient, you are a person on dialysis.” I have chosen to LIVE my life.  I continue to do everything I was doing before dialysis.  I am on the ski patrol at our local ski area; I am active in our church and have actually added activities to what I was doing before. 

Kathy W.
New York

Who Says I Can’t Have a Quality Life? AAKP Says I Can!
Two years ago I began Hemodialysis and because I was 70 years old I thought I would not be eligible for a transplant.  My Nephrologist encouraged me to apply because I was in otherwise good health with no other major health risks.  All of my children volunteered to donate a kidney, but it was my youngest son who was the closest match. It immediately began working and although the return to strength was slow, it was sure.  Today I am still enjoying walking my dogs twice a day, raising orchids, playing my violin, and painting pictures along with the normal household chores.  The point here is QUALITY OF LIFE.  My transplant has given that back to me.  Dialysis was survival, for me, but a transplant is a reunion with health and there is steady progress as the body’s integrity is able to take hold again.

Alice S.
Florida

Who Says I Can’t Live on Dialysis? AAKP Says I Can!
Before entering pre-school I had a routine physical.  The doctors found blood in my urine.  Over the next eight years, periodic blood and urine samples were taken and at age 13, my doctor performed a biopsy of my kidney.   I was diagnosed with Nephritis. I was informed that one day in the near future, I would need a kidney transplant or begin kidney dialysis.  I received my first kidney transplant from my mother.  In the summer of 1988 I came down with pneumonia, lost my transplant because of it and had to start back on dialysis. I received another kidney transplant in June of 1996.  In August of 2000, it stopped working and I started back on dialysis.  Someday soon, I hope for another kidney transplant to again live a life free from this machine.  I enjoy talking to people about my experiences, encouraging them and answering any questions they may have regarding what they are going through or may someday need to go through.  I work full time and stay pretty active.  I believe that with a proper diet, along with exercise, taking care of my body by building a strong immune system and managing my emotions, dialysis is not so bad.

Bill F.
Washington

Who Says I Can’t be an Advocate? AAKP Says I Can!
The day I was told I had Stage 3 Kidney disease my world took a deep dive into the beginning of the end for me or so I thought! I decided studying and finding out all the information that is out there on the web and from my doctors I would go to work on learning how I could help take control of my disease and assist with the treatment of my CKD. What I thought was the beginning of the end for my life as I knew it, became a new and great adventure into my life. This learning experience has leaded me to another stepping stone in my personal journey with CKD, becoming an Advocate. One very important lesson I have learned is: One never needs to fear their disease when one understands their disease. No matter how difficult things may get if you have equipped yourself with good information and support systems I know “I “Can” and as an Advocate “WE Can” make it through.

CarrieLynn Y.
Nebraska

Who Says I Can’t be an Over Comer? AAKP Says I Can!
On the surface I think I am like most young American women, I am a single mother of two children.  I am a very sociable person, involved in my community and enjoy traveling to places to spend and share time with family and close friends.  However November 7, 2006 is a date that has been engraved in my mind as a lasting memory for it was on this day that my life as I knew it was changed as I began to experience my life as a dialysis patient.  I must admit that in the beginning the adjustments I had to make seemed a little hard to endure.  I am a fighter and a believer that with faith all things are possible.  With a new baby in the family I knew that I now had a new challenge to overcome, she was going to require the care of her mother and for me this meant that I would need to gain enough strength to care for my new baby girl.  Words can’t explain it but indeed I am an over comer!

Gendnise L.
Georgia

Who Says I Can’t Make a Difference Irregardless of Kidney Disease? AAKP Says I Can!
Before my kidneys stopped working in 2001, I was a husband to my high school sweetheart, a mover and shaker at a consulting engineering firm, and a student launching into my doctoral dissertation.  My wife and I had recently adopted our son.  And, after having commuted up to 240 miles every other day in order to takes classes and work full time, I had recently found a job in the same community as my school.  It felt like I had life by the horns.  Then the kidney disease that I had since I was seventeen and was under control without any medications, roared to life.  For the next six years the perfect world my wife and I had worked so hard to attain spun out of control.  I decided that what time I had on this earth would be devoted to the family my wife and I worked so hard to build.  While on peritoneal dialysis we adopted our daughter, and were now a family of four. I became a den leader for my son's Cub Scouts.  I volunteered on my City's Environmental Commission and I chaired my son's school Silent Auction.  I have helped coach my son's baseball team.  I wanted to make a difference irregardless of kidney disease. Resiliency is the predominant lesson that I have learned in my 42 years of life.  By striving to react positively to the various obstacles in life, I find that the overall quality is much better than when I wallow in the pain.  At times I do get stuck in the mud, but I never stop looking for a branch in which to pull myself out.

Erich D.
Michigan

Who Says I Can’t Have a Job I Love?  AAKP Says I Can!
Why me Lord? That was my first thought when the doctor said these changing words, “You are in End Stage renal failure”, and I am sure most of you thought the same thing.  I felt like my world had stopped and threw me off. I felt like my life as I knew it was over.  But it wasn’t, I have a baby sister who volunteered to give me a kidney.  She was the only one tested and she was a perfect match.  If you have had a transplant and are leery of going back to work don’t be.  A job you love will make your life complete again.  My kidney failed again in October 2005, at that time I had to go on Hemodialysis.  The hardest part of being on dialysis is having to adjust my schedule to theirs, but I did it.  I still go to work everyday, I also go to church and I have a wonderful family.  I have so many people who love me and check on me I don’t have a chance to be depressed or discouraged long.

Sandra M.
Georgia

Who Says I Can’t Live a Full, Productive and Exhilarating Life? AAKP Says I Can!
I was diagnosed with kidney disease in 1980 caused by reflux nephropathy.  At that time the only thing kidney disease meant to me was not being able to go to summer camp.  Maintaining “normalcy” was important to my parents and after my first kidney transplant at age 16 I was determined to do everything in life.  There was nothing I felt I couldn’t do.  I enjoyed many years free from illness.  In 1997, I was devastated by the news that after nearly 11 years that transplant was now in rejection.  I again began dialysis determined not to let it interfere with my life.  Although I had my good and bad days while on dialysis, I continued to work full time as a lawyer, meeting with clients, going to court and acting in the manner as every other attorney I knew.  In 2001 I received a second transplant.  Now, nearly seven years later I’m feeling healthy and vibrant as I did after my first transplant.  I feel as though it is my mission to educate others about organ donation and the power of transplantation, by showing that organ recipients can and do lead full, productive and exhilarating lives. 

Julie S.
Missouri

Who Says I Can’t Have a Fulfilling Life? AAKP Says I Can!
Believe it or not, I feel happier now than before dialysis.  Now that I am on dialysis, life for me just gets better and better.  I have traveled all over the South and Midwest. I’m doing more with my church, cleaning, helping with dinners, rummage sales, silent auctions and craft sales. I feed the homeless or help anyone the best I can.  All that I do, I do it with the most pleasure that I have.  I see the beauty in a lot of things that a lot of people unfortunately miss.  I love the sun rays, wind, snow and rain on a hot day, flowers blooming in spring and waves hitting the beach. All of this would not be possible without dialysis.  Of course life is what one makes of it.  Because of dialysis and all the professional people who help me, life is the most fulfilling and absolute beautiful.  You only have one chance, have the time of your life while you can.

Matt T.
Wisconsin

Who Says I Can’t Bring Joy to Other Patients?  AAKP Says I Can!
Long time ago, I couldn’t do any good for anyone, not even myself.  I had no knowledge of anything dealing with kidney failure.  For a while it seemed as though no one else was concerned about my being withdrawn, especially not me!  I did not realize that I was experiencing a major state of depression.  Once I realized that I wasn’t getting any better, I decided I should do something about that. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and was no longer scared of anything, except the needles.  I started speaking to some of the patients.  My talking to them was their medicine and their smiles were medicine for me.  I began to transition into being a dialysis patient that showed concerns for other patients.  Upon returning from one of my many hospital stays some patients remarked how they missed me and my smile.  All of a sudden I felt like “Somebody.”  I took charge and began to ask questions about the machines, the process and anything else I wanted to know.  I went from just being another patient to being a patient that provided hope and showed a concern for other patients.  I have learned that life without HOPE is no life at all.

Jacqueline B.
Tennessee

Who Says I Can’t Have a Strong Determination to Make a Difference? AAKP Says I Can!
I have been able to meet and help so many people in my life since I was diagnosed with Reflux Nephrology with a combined kidney function of 50% in the fall of 1997.  I was told at that time I would need dialysis and/or a transplant by age 30.  The physicians told me to go out and enjoy life now because when I started dialysis, I would not be able to live a normal life.  Since I started dialysis back in 2001, I have had a strong determination to make a difference with my life.  I work with my daughters Girl Scout Troop, I am learning how to sew to make blankets for dialysis patients to help keep warm, I am also researching foundations to raise money to purchase dialysis chairs which have warmers in them and I am also learning how to work with local farmers to produce vegetables and fruits to help dialysis patients eat a healthy, kidney-friendly diet.  My church’s motto pretty much sums it up, “Small Things Done With Great Love Will Change The World” and that is what I intend to accomplish in this lifetime!

Toni M.
Ohio

Who Says I Can’t Be a Survivor? AAKP Says I Can!
I have experienced life through WWII, The Great Depression, Segregation, Civil Rights, Integration and every other major life changing event since then which has shaped the current lifestyles which exist in the country today.  Besides being a devoted wife and mother I also became a very skilled caregiver.  During this time I developed arthritis in both knees.  I could not stop to take care of myself as the rest of my family counted on me.  I started a daily regime of Advil, 3 tablets four times a day for 15 years.  It did give me relief but also caused serious damage to my kidneys.  Just when I thought nothing else could happen, along came Hurricane Katrina.  So here I am 86 years old on dialysis and living in Wisconsin.  Before I relocated to Wisconsin I was independent and very active.  I was taking classes at the University of New Orleans and had a very active social life.  I also attended many Mardi gras balls and rode on a float during Carnival. I believe everyday is a gift from God and it is our responsibility to live it to the fullest.

Geraldine R.
Wisconsin

Who Says I Can Be In a Band? AAKP Says I Can!
I am a 31 year old Puerto Rican man that was diagnosed with an immunological condition known as Lupus. That news brought me a whole world of uncertainty and a sense of denial.  At the very beginning I was only 16 and it was hard to face reality, but with the support of my family, I was able to keep on going. However, a young spirit and a lot of hope got me into thinking about not giving up the fight. After a year, my condition was under control with the help of my doctors, and I finally started my college studies in Psychology. During those years, an old inclination that I had for music was reborn and I decided to organize a band. My band gained a lot of acceptance throughout the island of Puerto Rico and we got to play our music in many universities, festivals and pubs. At the age of 25, my kidneys were failing, and just 6 months after graduated from college with a BA in Psychology, I had renal failure. I went on Hemodialysis. I didn’t understand why this was happening to me, and couldn’t believe how deteriorated my health was.  In 2006, I decided to start playing music again, but this time it was going to be as a hobby. I learned that I can continue living with a kidney disease, that I can continue pursuing my dreams and goals.

Mario S.
Puerto Rico

Who Says I Can’t A Very Active Life? AAKP Says I Can!
Although I was diagnosed with renal failure, I never thought that I should stop being the active person that I was.  I am very active in my church, in my sorority, I am a part-time substitute and volunteer as a tutor.  Through “Meals on Wheels” I deliver hot lunches to senior citizens and I participate in the Mother’s Walk for the March of Dimes.  Through the years I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs medically.  In July of 1995, I was blessed to get a kidney transplant.  The transplant went very well and the kidney worked immediately.  It was a new lease on life.  Unfortunately in December of 1998, the transplanted kidney went into rejection.  I returned to dialysis January 1999. Dialysis has been a new way of life, not a hindrance of my lifestyle.  I am so grateful for the care and guidance of my entire network of health care providers.  I would not be here without their help and concern.

Elsie H.
Tennessee

Who Says I Can’t Be Grateful to Be Alive? AAKP Says I Can!
The summer of 2004 I became deathly ill.  I had no understanding of why this was happening to me.  Then I was told my kidneys were failing.  In November 2004 I began dialysis.  I met a group of wonderful caring people who have helped me live, one day at a time.  I had a choice to accept dialysis and live or die.  The result was I wanted to live.  My desire to live was greater than ever.  I want to live everyday to its fullest and be of maximum service to others.  I am privileged to volunteer at a day care center and advocate for the inner city community.  I am grateful to be alive; this is not the ending, only the beginning. 

Cindy B.
Ohio

Who Says I Can’t Have a Positive Outlook on My Health? AAKP Says I Can!
In May of 2007 I was diagnosed with kidney failure.  It became very devastating to me and my family.  It can happen to anyone no matter how health conscience you may be.  I am the type to be in the gym four days a week and being very active in different activities.  To get through the dialysis and preparing for the transplant, I have the support of my family, friends, co-workers and most of all the almighty.  I have a positive outlook on my health and feel good about getting the treatments and being able to work full-time on a demanding job.  For all kidney patients, do not give up hope better horizons are on the way.

Gloria S.
Wisconsin

Who Says I Can’t Feed the Birds? AAKP Says I Can!
I was almost dead when I was put on dialysis.  I was so sick that I went from 148 lbs. to 120 lbs.  My doctors kept telling me that they would get me back on my feet; it would just take time and work on my part.  With the help of my doctors, my determination and with the grace of God, I no am back on my feet. The things I used to enjoy, I can now do them again.  I drive myself to church and to the local high school ball games.  The things I took for granted, like feeding my birds, I get to do again.  After all I have gone through and recovered from I have proved to myself and my family that I truly am a survivor.

Betty M.
Georgia

Who Says I Can’t Be an Inspiration to Others? AAKP Says I Can!
I have seen a lot of dialysis patients come and go in three years.  Most of them just gave up.  However, sometimes when things seem dark and dreary we as humans tend to throw in the towel.  I have started already trying to be an inspiration to my fellow patients at our dialysis center.  They all respond to me and I listen to them.  I am a person who cares for people and will do all I can to help them cope with our way of Life.  Within the last three years my knowledge of being on Hemodialysis has been very rewarding, I feel much better now and I want everyone to know that they can too feel better.  I am blessed to be a blessing to all who come my way. 

Douglas P.
Louisiana

Who Says I Can’t Continue Learning and Sharing? AAKP Says I Can!
One of my most vivid childhood memories was of my mother reading a profusely illustrated storybook to my two younger brothers and I called, “The Little Engine That Could.”  As a kidney patient, it is just that kind of empowering inner dialogue that gets you through this day and on to the next.  But this was not always the case with me. There was a time when I was in denial about my kidney disease, and a time of bitterness that preceded the life I am living today, one of hope and renewal. After losing two members of my immediate family to PKD, and with a third on dialysis, something extraordinary happened: I received a gift of life, an altruistic living donor kidney transplant.  My transplant transformed my health immediately. Being a kidney transplant recipient has allowed me to reexamine what’s most important to me today. I now devote a portion of my life to helping other kidney patients. I want to discover how much more can be done to improve the lives of kidney patients from the small platform that is my life and with any luck I’m going to find out!  What can I do?  Take a lesson from The Little Engine That Could.  I can continue learning and sharing for the rest of my life.  I can help improve the lives of other kidney patients.

Shar C.
California

Additional inspirational stories can be found in AAKP’s bimonthly patient magazine, aakpRENALIFE. This magazine contains a Patient Profile in each issue, which details the life of a fellow kidney patient. aakpRENALIFE is a membership benefit. If you would like to share your story of living with kidney disease for a Patient Profile in aakpRENALIFE, please submit to info@aakp.org or send to Patient Profile, 3505 E. Frontage Rd., Ste. 315 Tampa , FL 33607