Legacy of Love Inspires Widow to Walk for PKD

    

Kathy Etzkorn of Greensboro, NC, learned about PKD the hard way - through the suffering of a loved one.

Her husband, Dennis, was diagnosed with PKD at age 16. When they met in 1991, he was one and a half years post-transplant and lucky to have celebrated his 47th birthday.

Dennis lost his father as a young man, and both his grandmother and his great-grandfather died of PKD in their 40s. Dennis, too, worried his life would be cut short by PKD, but, according to Kathy, he never let that fear slow him down.

"He knew he had only so much time to live life. He made up his mind to live life to its fullest, and he did,” Kathy said. “I’ve never met a more cheerful, optimistic and encouraging person than Dennis.”

“From the day I met him, he just was like the guiding light of my life. We loved each other with all our hearts.”

At 60 and after 10 and-a-half years of marriage to the light of his life, Dennis passed away from liver failure and leukemia two complications of PKD and the transplant he received in the late 1980s.
Through Kathy, his memory lives on.

“I know that there’s not enough awareness of this disease, and I want to make as many people as I can aware of it and help educate the public about polycystic kidney disease,” Kathy said. “I just decided I’m going to let my life be guided by the legacy of Dennis’ love.”

So, nearly one year after Dennis’ death, Kathy, along with her brother-in-law, John, and nephew, Lewis, took part in the 2005 Walk for PKD. Kathy plans to walk again this September.

“It made me feel like I could do something to honor Dennis and keep his memory alive,” Kathy said. “I knew it was something Dennis would be proud of. It is the most worthwhile thing I’ve done since Dennis passed away.”

Since then, Kathy has also included the PKD Foundation in her estate plan.

“In my estate plan, I have left retirement funds to the PKD Foundation, not only for the reason of medical research but because it’s a really good way to leave those funds so they’re tax free and someone can truly benefit,” she said. “The PKD Foundation is a really, really good cause. Any way I can help further that cause, I want to do it.”

Kathy attributes her generosity and desire to make a difference in the lives of those with PKD to Dennis, who always went out of his way to help someone in need.

After receiving a life-saving transplant, Dennis returned to the dialysis clinic where he had spent four days a week for two years to talk to the other patients, some of them with PKD, about transplants and what to expect.

"He really tried to be an inspiration and give a lot of encouragement to PKD patients,” Kathy explained. “He just had such a generous spirit.”

And despite the PKD complications he experienced two brain aneurisms, gout, chronic back pain and high blood pressure Dennis remained optimistic. To keep his spirits up and to share with others in need of a lift Dennis carried a poem in his pocket. Its words inspire Kathy to this day.