Team Kidney - 2025 Chicago Marathon

Thank you for checking out my page! Most of you may or may not know when I was pregnant with my youngest they found some abnormalities in her heart and kidney. When I found this out I was devastated. How could this happen? I ate the right food, took care of my body and my precious girl had kidney and heart abnormalities? After continuous monitoring and doctors telling me it will resolve on its own I was confident she was going to be ok. Her heart resolved on its own but her kidney still had issues. On October 13, 2021 my precious Delilah Noel was born. When she was 8 days old they did a reflux scan, ct scan to find out that it was much worse than we all thought. Stage 4 CKD. I was crushed and felt defeated. My little girl had right kidney failure. When she was 12 weeks old she underwent kidney reconstruction surgery in hopes to save her kidney and at 6 months old she went another another surgery to drain out the fluids her kidney kept producing and after 2 surgeries and another MAG3 study scan her right kidney was at 0% function. This caused not only her left kidney to start to fail but it also impacted her from walking.  On June 2023 almost 2 years old, her urologist recommended we remove her right kidney completely to ensure that we can potentially save her left.  Her 3rd surgery and a week after her surgery she began to walk something she couldn't do for months even with aggressive physical therapy. We are so thankful for Cornell and her incredible team.  She sees a nephrologist every 6 months and while her journey is still not over and these visits are never fun nor do we hear the greatest news when it comes to Delilahs left kidney I always try to find resources and learn more on how to advocate for my Delilah. I am grateful that there are organizations such as the National Kidney Foundation where we as parents and caregivers can learn more about what to do for our loved ones. I dedicate this run to her. My precious girl.