National Kidney Walk/Family Event

This Saturday is the National Kidney Walk to raise funds and awareness about kidney disease. Our granddaughter Maddie has a rare kidney disease, IgA Nephropathy. She also suffers from a host of allergies, asthma and other pulmonary problems. We watch as Maddie struggles with chronic pain and low energy. Maddie is extremely intelligent. She understands her health issues better than I do. She is also extremely responsible, careful, and determined. Although she misses school often, her grades are excellent and she is an outstanding student. She deals with her health issues with so much maturity and grace, much more than you would expect from an 11 year old. 

Her mother, our daughter Emily, works tirelessly; taking Maddie to doctors, watching her diet because of her allergies, giving her all the medications she needs at all the appropriate times. There is little that we, as grandparents are able to do to help, although we are willing to do anything possible. The kidney walk is something that we can do. The whole family joins "Maddies Team" to raise money and do the walk in Fort Worth together. I have a nephew who began to have kidney failure as an adult. After 10 years of dialysis, he had a transplant. "Maddies Team" is made up of family and friends of both Maddie and Jerry.