Our Ambassadors and Mentors are young adults, teenagers and children who are eager and happy to connect and share their ‘Kidney Journey’ and experiences with others.
Whilst having family and friends to turn to can make a huge difference for children, teenagers and young adults dealing with kidney disease, sometimes it isn’t enough. Talking to others who are going through the same experiences can be a much needed opportunity to share stories and information, emotional issues and receive and provide support.
The hope is that by sharing their experiences, other children and young people (and their parents) will realise that it is possible to enjoy a happy, successful and fulfilling life, despite living with kidney disease.
Of course, everyone’s experiences can be different, but we hope that by reading someone’s story or speaking with someone we can benefit, relate to and learn from each other’s journey with kidney problems and its treatments.
If you would like to speak with one of our Ambassadors/Mentors, have any questions or are interested in becoming one of our Ambassadors/Mentors or your child is interested, please contact Lyndal at parentsupport@ksn.org.au
Meet our Ambassadors and Mentors:
Denise
My kidney journey started when I was 15 years old and was out shopping to buy a pair of shoes. Usually I am a size 7 but that day I was a size 5; to this day I buy size 4 and 5 shoes. Besides my shoe size dropping, I had extremely itchy skin.
We tried everything to stop the itchiness, from changing our washing powder to cutting the tags off my clothes, but nothing worked. So Mum became worried, like any mother would, and insisted on a visit to the doctor and a blood test.
The first doctor to look at my test didn’t believe the results and asked for another blood test to be done. Back then I hated needles so it was a week later before I got my bloods done again and this time I had a different doctor who told me to pack my bags because I was going to hospital. My Creatinine level was over 1000!
That first day in hospital is a complete blur – so many doctors, so many nurses and people coming in and out of my room all day. I remember just agreeing with all these people and simply doing what I was told.
That afternoon we were advised that I had End Stage Renal Failure and I needed to start Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) immediately…
