Team Kidney - 2024 Chicago Spring Half Marathon supporting National Kidney Foundation of Illinois
Becky DeGroot
After donating a kidney through the living donor program last year I want to raise awareness for kidney health and living donations. My family has been directly impacted by this with my husband receiving a kidney from a living donor shortly after my donation.
Becky DeGroot
After donating a kidney through the living donor program last year I want to raise awareness for kidney health and living donations. My family has been directly impacted by this with my husband receiving a kidney from a living donor shortly after my donation.
I want to thank you all in advance for your support (monetary or emotionally) as I take on this challenge. This will be my first 1/2 marathon post kidney donation and I couldn't be more excited that to do it while fundraising for the National Kidney Foundation.
A little bit about our story:
My husband, Scott, was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease in 2009. This is a hereditary disease that someone has a 50/50 change or getting if a parent carries the dominant gene. It causes cysts to grow in the kidneys and has an impact to blood pressure and other secondary issues. At that time of his diagnosis his kidney's were functioning at a normal level and while we made some changes to our diet overall our lives did not change much.
Fast forward about 12 years and we found our our oldest son also has PKD. He was also doing well, but needs to take blood pressure medication despite being a college athlete to control his blood pressure and protect his kidneys.
Then in about 2020, Scott started feeling more tired and it was harder to run (which he loved) and we just blamed it on the COVID time and that everyone was feeling out of sorts. However, as he continued to be monitored by his nephrologist we found out in the summer of 2023 that he needed to be evaluated for a kidney transplant as his function levels were getting close to requiring dialysis.
This is where my story began and I was evaluated and approved to be a living donor in January of 2023 as part of a paired exchange program to help secure a living donor for Scott. My match was made in March of 2023 and I donated my kidney and created a voucher for Scott to use. A week after my donation, an amazing friend of ours, was approved to be a direct match to Scott. He underwent a nephrectomy in June (removing two kidneys for a total weight of 16 lbs) and then did dialysis for 5 weeks while he recovered enough for his transplant, which occurred on August 3rd.
He immediately felt the impact of his new kidney and has recovered well and his kidney function is right where it needs to be. We are all running again and have made it a mission to help spread awareness over the gift of living donation. This race is one way for me to do this.
Thank you for your support!