J. Dakar

Stabler: He broke the law to get you a kidney. He was just trying to help you.
Kyle McGovern: So…why is that wrong?
- Law & Order: SVU, “Parts”

The above exchange is from an old episode in which the character Kyle McGovern has polycystic kidney disease (PKD), the most common of all life-threatening genetic diseases, which affects 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people worldwide. In fact, it affects more people than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia and Down syndrome combined and still few people know about it. There is no treatment and no cure…

Yet.

In the summer of 1998, I was diagnosed with PKD. I noticed blood in my urine but that was after enduring the painful urination. I was only fourteen at the time and had no idea of what was going on, but I knew I needed to tell my parents. They took me to my pediatrician, Dr. Gray, and after a few tests, he informed us that one of the cysts on my kidneys had burst. My parents and I didn’t even know I had cysts on my kidneys! Dr. Gray referred me to a nephrologist, but since my grandmother and most of her children have some issues with their kidneys, we already knew a great one, Dr. Krothapalli.

I’ve been a patient of his ever since. It was during that initial visit that I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure. My dad took this news the hardest because he knew it meant that I’d be taking blood pressure medication for the rest of my life. It didn’t really hit me, though, because I was still just a kid.

When I first saw that episode of SVU, it prompted me to do something I should have done when I was diagnosed—visit the PKD Foundation website and request more information about the disease, the organization and ways in which I can help.

I composed a letter to my senator, Richard Shelby, requesting he contact Sen. Arlen Spector, then Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and pledge his support for the addition of the PKD report language into the 2006 Senate Appropriations Report. Because of the anthrax infestation several years ago, mail to Senate members is now irradiated, causing delivery time to be much longer than normally expected. So, I e-mailed it. Granted, I know it wasn’t the most professional way to request something of this nature, but it needed to be done and as Detective Munch added in that same episode, “No one should have to choose between obeying the law and watching their child die.”

It’s been ten years since my diagnosis, and I’ve been blessed not to have any other PKD-related incidents, which could ultimately cause my kidneys to fail. That’s why I’m participating in this year’s Walk for PKD virtually, as there’s no event being held in my state.

That’s where you come in: I need your help to support the PKD Foundation’s vision that no one suffers the full effects of PKD.

You can sponsor me via the PKD website or the ChipIn widget in the sidebar. You can even give to both if you so choose.

It’s cool if you’re unable to donate monetarily, you can help by sharing this with friends and family. If you have a website of your own, you can even add my Walk for PKD widget to your site. Together, we all can work together in hopes of finding a cure and treatment, in addition to raising awareness.

I sincerely appreciate your support and will keep you updated on my success.

Peace and blessings.

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Usher - “Can U Help Me” from 8701