Christopher Nuzzo
My name is Christopher and I have polycystic kidney disease. I am 20 years old and go to school at Manhattan College to study media production. I always knew my family had a history with PKD because my grandmother had...
Read MoreJerry Petersheim
PKD started with my grandfather, who died from the disease at the age of 49. He and my grandmother had twelve children, of whom six had PKD. Three aunts died around the age of 50 without the availability of dialysis....
Read MoreTilia Sanchez
My name is Tilia, and I have Stage 5 PKD. I was diagnosed when I was about 13 years old and did not know I would be at this stage of my disease at this age. My life consists of...
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Mike Balles
I was diagnosed with ADPKD at thirty-five. While my mom knew her siblings had kidney issues, she thought she did not, since she had no symptoms. It took twenty years for my kidney function to gradually decline. I had a...
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Gregory Ofiara
I have survived Polycystic Kidney Disease for nineteen years. Having family support has been critical to my health; my brother-in-law, a better match than my family, was my living donor. His kidney donation was the most meaningful gift I’ve ever...
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Kim March
I was diagnosed with ADPKD at 15 years old following a snowmobiling accident that caused me to rupture a cyst. I am currently 31 years old, working as a firefighter/EMT and going to nursing school while working hard to raise...
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Taylor Stearns
[caption id="attachment_11538" align="alignright" width="300"] Taylor and her mother[/caption] PKD has caused my family so much hardship. Growing up, I watched my mother suffer as her health declined. She was always in so much pain, never wanting to leave the house because...
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Reina Stevens
PKD runs in my family. My grandmother ultimately passed as a result of complications with the disease. My mother was diagnosed but it was very well managed until 2006. Within 6 months her kidney function dropped to under 10%. Her best...
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Kristen Simms
[caption id="attachment_11534" align="alignright" width="225"] Kristen's children, Eli and Presley[/caption] My name is Kristen Simms. I am a 26-year-old military wife living in Northern Virginia with two children affected by ARPKD: a four-year-old boy, Elijah and a one-year-old girl, Presley. With...
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Nicole Cardin
[caption id="attachment_11524" align="alignright" width="300"] Nicole and her granddaughter[/caption] My paternal grandmother, Helen, is the first that we know of who had autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in the family. We only figured it out when others in the family...
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Taylor Karlo
[caption id="attachment_11474" align="alignright" width="273"] Taylor at one of her volleyball games[/caption] My name is Taylor Karlo, I’m 17 years old and I’m a senior at Olentangy Liberty High School in Powell, Ohio. I am also a volleyball player and I’m...
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Debra Dai
[caption id="attachment_11474" align="alignright" width="300"] Debra and her eldest daughter[/caption] My name is Debra and I’m from New York. I was diagnosed at the age of 22 during my pregnancy with my first child. At the time, my mother had PKD...
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