Dear Editor, I have been living with kidney disease for over 15 years. Diagnosed in 2009 while I was pregnant with my daughter, I learned quickly that kidney failure doesn’t discriminate. It comes for everyone, including mothers, teachers, workers, and neighbors. At the time of my diagnosis, I was employed by Metro North Railroad in New York City and had private health insurance, which was a lifeline when I began in-center hemodialysis in 2010. My first transplant in 2012 gave me five years of stability before my new kidney failed in 2017. I retired, transitioned to Medicare, and spent nearly [...]

To the Editor In November 2022, I walked into urgent care with a blood pressure of 263 over 120. I walked out with a life-changing diagnosis, kidney failure. I was a single mother with an 8-year-old daughter, and overnight, my entire world shifted. I had to quit my job and start dialysis immediately, something I never saw coming. When I was first diagnosed, I had private insurance through my employer before eventually transitioning to Medicare. That private coverage gave me the stability I needed during that period of my life. Nearly four years later, I am still on dialysis and [...]

I was first diagnosed with kidney failure in 2005 and immediately started emergency dialysis. It was a shock, but I wasn’t about to let it stop me. I began peritoneal dialysis (PD) at home so I could keep working as a teacher and a detention center tutor. Even while managing treatment, I continued to show up for my students every day. After a successful kidney transplant in 2015, I got almost ten years of freedom from dialysis. But when my transplanted kidney began to fail again in 2023, I returned to PD late last year. I’m back on the transplant [...]

A recent Supreme Court decision allows private insurers to push new dialysis patients — those who take a frequent treatment for kidney failure to survive — off their plans they’ve worked hard to keep. It’s a direct assault on the lives of dialysis patients across America. Forcing patients off their private insurance immediately after diagnosis — often within months — is unjust. I’ve lived on dialysis for over four years, endured the pain of needles tearing through my skin twice daily, and fought to keep my dignity in a system that often prioritizes profits over people. I’ve been lucky; I [...]

In 2017, while working in Melbourne, Australia, I became unable to walk three city blocks without stopping to catch my breath. Within hours of reaching the ER, I’d had two blood transfusions and was in the ICU. I found out one kidney had never fully developed, and the other was only 2% functional. I spent 15 months on hemodialysis before receiving a transplant in 2018. Two and a half years later, my body rejected it. In August 2024, I was back on dialysis. One in 3 Americans is at risk for kidney disease. That’s not a statistic lawmakers can afford [...]