Why Kenny the Kidney Walks

Polycystic Kidney Disease took the life of my first cousin, Mike, when Mike was just 35. Mike, a great guy, left two young children behind, each of whom has a 50% chance of developing PKD. A few years after Mike died PKD took his father, my Uncle Dick, who was affectionately known as "Poppy." Each year our family walks as the team "Mike & Poppy's All-Stars," in order to help cure the disease that took Mike and Poppy away from us much too soon, and threatens to take many more of us.

Kenny the Kidney, my affable alter ego, walks as a proud member of our team. If you arrived here from Kennythekidney.com, welcome! Kenny travels around to ask for help fighting PKD, a very common and dangerous disease that few people have ever heard of.

A genetic mistake causes people with PKD to develop cysts, or pockets of fluid, on their kidneys. As the people grow, the cysts grow and multiply. In about half the cases, the cysts overwhelm the kidneys, causing them to fail. At that point a person needs dialysis or, if available, a transplant. Neither option is a walk in the park.

PKD affects one out of every 500 people you see. That's many more people than are afflicted by Huntington's disease, Down syndrome, hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia *combined.* As yet there is no treatment and no cure for PKD … but there is a great deal of hope. Research advances have led to more than 20 ongoing clinical trials, with more in the pipeline. A successful treatment will free up 5,000 spaces on the kidney-transplant waiting list — thus helping *many* more people than just PKD patients.

In March a bunch of us went to Washington to lobby Congress for more funds for PKD research. The economic case for those funds is solid: Each year, PKD costs the federal government more than $2 billion a year, in Medicare, Medicaid, lost productivity, and so on. Yet the government spends just over $40 million to find a cure. With just a little more money, we can cure this disease, thus saving American taxpayers more than $2 billion a year, every year, forever. We'd also remove a frightening shadow from the lives of 600,000 Americans — 12.5 million people worldwide.

The Walk for PKD is the signature fundraising event for PKD patient education and research. Please join me by making a donation on my behalf.

Thank you.

Love,

Bill Brazell, aka Kenny the Kidney