Why I Walk…

It's our 9th Walk for PKD that we're invovled with and while I'm not in charge of it anymore, I am enthusiastic about raising funds for research and awareness about this disease that has shaped our family's life. 

I'm still involved with the PKD Foundation as Atlanta Chapter Coordinaor and as Co-coordinator of the ARPKD Chapter with my friend Michele. We work to support families facing a PKD diagnosis in their child, and we work at the local level to spread awareness about PKD.

Even though Gage and Quinnlin were lucky enough to have had transplants (compliments of Jody and Cheryl) it's not like I can just forget about PKD.

I have daily reminders of the disease in my kids. The 3x daily meds, weekly appointments, hospitalizations due to illness because of compromised immune systems, future disease risks because of meds, financial strain, and the fallout of the medcial interventions and the lingering trauma they face still today.

As always, you can check www.kidneysandeyes.com for their updates! And if you are interested in a social networking site I started because I was inspired by Gage & Quinnlin, visit www.supportforspecialneeds.com!

We know that the research that comes as a result won't help Gage and Quinnlin, but it could help their kids. It can help future families just like us.

Won't you join us? Make a donation on my behalf, or better yet, join us on Walk for PKD day at Turner Field. Ask 20 people for $20. It's that easy!

If you do join our team...I'm printing Gage & Quinnlin t-shirts again...and they are $10, if you'd like one please let me know how many and what sizes!

 The PKD Foundation aggressively seeks to convert:

Ignorance into knowledge * Despair into hope * Isolation into community * Ideas into reality * Basic science into therapies
* Small dollars into large dollars by leveraging grants