Are You At Risk for Kidney Disease?

There are over 120,000 Americans currently waiting on life-saving organ transplants, and three out of every four, or 75% of them are waiting on kidneys. With March, National Kidney Month, quickly coming to an end, we would like to briefly share a few of the factors that can lead to your risk of kidney disease being elevated.

Kidney (Photo credit: Joshua Schwimmer)

These factors include :

1. diabetes,
2. hypertension (high blood pressure),
3. family history,
4. being elderly (60+ years of age), and
5. a history of kidney stones.

If you have one, or more, of these risk factors, you should have your kidney function tested. As with most medical ailments, such as cancer, early detection is vital to treating the disease. Please do not wait until your health deteriorates if 1 of the 5 factors above apply to you. With early detection there are a number of things that can be done to treat kidney disease, such as :

• reducing salt (sodium) intake,
• reducing blood pressure,
• reducing blood sugar,
• getting more exercise,
• drinking more water,
• quitting smoking, and
• not using pain medication excessively.

Just remember - early detection is key as there are often no symptoms associated with the onset of kidney disease.

With such a large percentage of the current transplant waiting list being made up of people who need a kidney, we also would like to encourage you to visit our website, www.SaveLivesTN.org, by clicking here to learn how to become a registered organ donor.

Source :article on www.OurMidland.com titled "Check Risk Factors During National Kidney Month"

Related articles

• A Look At the Importance of Kidney Health (ny1.com)
• March is National Kidney Month! (talk-diabetes.org)
• Controlling other health issues reduces kidney disease risk (louisianaweekly.com)
• Elderly more at risk of chronic kidney disease - AKU edu (sjpaderborn.wordpress.com)

New Life After 26-Year Battle with Kidney Disease

Rebecca Miller is a trooper. After a 26-year battle with kidney disease, she received a kidney transplant from an anonymous living donor back on February 13th of this year. Her courageous story was recently reported by WSBT TV, where she was once the noon news anchor. The video of her story titled "Granger Woman Has New Kidney After Long Wait, Urges Others to Donate" is embedded below or can also be watched, or the text of the article read by clicking here.



Besides it being Rebecca's transplant date, February 13th is special to us at the Tennessee Organ Donation Foundation, Inc. for another reason - it was on that date 7 years ago that our Executive Director and Founder, Johnny Black, was listed for a heart transplant, which he received just 8 days later.

For more information about organ and tissue donation and how you can help save a life like Rebecca's and Johnny's donors did, please visit our website, www.SaveLivesTN.org, by clicking here.

9-Year-Old Returns Home After Kidney Transplant

In hemolytic uremic syndrome, toxins destroy red blood cells. These misshapen cells may clog the tiny blood vessels in the kidneys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

9-year-old Evie of Carthage, NC recently went home from the hospital after a brutal health ordeal that necessitated a life-saving kidney transplant. Her illness started after contracting E-Coli which caused Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a condition which wipes out red blood cells.

The disease led to both of the little girl's kidneys and her pancreas failing, heart problems, pneumonia, a collapsed lung, and intestinal bleeding which required over three dozen blood transfusions. Fortunately, a living donor stepped up and donated a kidney to Evie, who is now doing well.

Evie's story was shared on WNCT Channel 9 news. The video of her story is embedded below, or the text can be read and the video watched at wnct.com by clicking here - "New Kidney Means New Journey for 9-Year-Old Moore Co. Girl".

WNCT
 
March is National Kidney Month. For more information on organ and tissue donation, including how to register as a donor where you live, please visit our website by clicking here.