Hello, my name is Elizabeth. Everyone who knows me calls me Liz. I am a 25 year old mom of 2 wonderful children and have the most supportive husband in the entire world. We have been together for 9 years.
When I was 18 I started having a lot of back pain and was sick all the time and I gained a bunch of weight. My doctors could not figure out why. The doctors had no explanation for my problems, they dismissed them. I struggled with bladder infections and severe pain for 2 years. One month before I turned 21 I found out that I had a kidney stone 3 inches in diameter in my right kidney. From that moment forward my world changed. I was diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of 21 in 2007.
I began the first of MANY long and often painful hospital stays. I was in the hospital sometimes for weeks at a time; hooked up to tubes and machines and away from my family. In 2009 the doctor told me there was nothing more they could do and that my right kidney had to come out. By this time, I had over 15 surgeries to try to save me from what was about to happen. Right after surgery, I got pregnant with my second child.
Everyone wanted to handle me like I was an egg. The fact that I had kidney disease and that I now only have one kidney was never far from anyone’s mind. It has now been almost 3 years since my kidney removal and I have begun the same pattern with my other kidney; they fear by the time I am forty I will need a full transplant. It is hard to live with kidney disease every day at such a young age when all your friends around you are having fun, partying, and living life to the fullest. But that’s why I FIGHT LIKE A GIRL. I’ve never given up!!!
Elizabeth
Michigan
Submitted 6-19-2012
The informational content of this article is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.
This article is intended to convey general educational information and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.
Dealing with kidney disease myself, hang in there. I wish I could hug you. Don’t you dare give up. Maybe not in my life time, but hopefully in yours they’ll find a cure for this? Hang in there.