I’m so glad you stumbled upon this blog. After a surprise diagnosis of kidney failure and a five-year life expectancy on dialysis, I needed to find a way to gain some control over my health. The idea to start this blog was inspired by how little information I had on why I got sick. I was a medical mystery that a team of doctors couldn’t explain. I’m now finding that that is the case with most chronic illnesses.

My journey started while I was driving around with the radio full blast making my BIG plans, when WHAM! Out of the blue, I found myself in the hospital with Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease. My plans definitely did not include this. Within days I was put on dialysis three days a week and my life was forever changed.

I immediately starting reading every piece of information I could find on Chronic Kidney Disease. I picked up a well-meaning book that said, statistically, the life expectancy of someone on dialysis was five years. FIVE YEARS! Which meant that I wouldn’t live to see my son graduate from high school.

The image of my son graduating high school without me shook me to my very core. Then I got angry. Very angry, because they forgot to add one important factor to their earth-shattering prognosis: ME. Statistics are numbers. What they were not inputting in their equation was how I could impact my own health.

Months after reading that statistic and faithfully going to dialysis, I was fortunate enough to have a kidney transplant. My sister so bravely and generously donated her kidney to me. She is forever the hero of my life. I have a second chance, thanks to my sister’s gift of life, so you’d better believe I’m on a quest to discover the healthiest choices I can make to take care of my new kidney.

I’ve come to believe it’s the simple choices we make that help us gain some control and add quality to our lives. By simple choices I mean, what kind of food am I eating, what products am I putting on my skin, what kind of physical movement can I practice today? These are simple choices but for me, require a complete overhaul to my lifestyle. I have started reading, learning, and making changes to literally every aspect of my life.

The reason I’m writing this blog is because of you. I know you’re out there and I want you to know that you’re not alone. I’ve since met so many people with chronic illness and I’m learning so much from them. Most importantly, I’ve been reintroduced to hope. Hope is a powerful force that you can bring to the table. Statistics do not make room for hope.

Meet me back here as I chronicle the ups and downs of my path. I hope you find some useful information to help you on your journey to wellness. I want to encourage you to defy the statistics. There is strength in numbers and together we can create our own statistics of hope and wellness.

Come say hi!