“My husband Steve had a childhood kidney condition, but it wasn’t until a decade ago that we had to start thinking about the transplant side of things,” says Kate, 53, who lives in Sumner with airline pilot Steve, 56, and their sons Finn, 20, and Guy, 17.
Steve was born with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare kidney disease that affects the filters in the kidneys and leads to damage and failure. His condition wasn’t picked up until he went for a medical exam as a young man in the air force, and apart from high blood pressure and fatigue, he went for years without symptoms.
“They call FSGS the silent disease because it’s so gradual,” tells Kate, who had breast cancer six years before her live kidney transplant.
“We knew Steve would eventually fail his airline medical and he didn’t want a future of dialysis, which would mean being hooked to a machine for around five hours at a time to clean the toxins from his blood, like the kidneys are supposed to.”
この記事は New Zealand Woman's Weekly の February 14, 2022 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は New Zealand Woman's Weekly の February 14, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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