LITTLE GIRL MAKES BIG IMPACT ON LIFE THREATENING GENETIC
DISEASE WITH FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

Dylin Cenname supports research for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD).

(Kansas City) March 26, 2006— Dylin Cenname celebrated her first birthday as an advocate for the disease that ravages her tiny body.

More than 200 people came to her party, but they didn’t bring the usual gifts. Instead, Dylin’s mother wanted to educate friends and family about polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and raise money for PKD research. Kristin Cenname planned a silent auction with everything from a weeklong California getaway to a homemade pasta dinner from Dylin’s grandma. The family raised more than $12,000.

Dylin began developing cysts on her kidneys before she was born. Doctors actually thought the growth was a third kidney. They diagnosed Dylin with ADPKD just months after she was born.

PKD is the world’s most common life-threatening genetic disease, affecting 1 in 500 people regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin. For the 12.5 million people with PKD, fluid-filled cysts grow on the kidneys.

Over time, these cysts get bigger and multiply, often leading to kidney failure. Dialysis and transplantation are the only options. Currently, there is no treatment and no cure.

Dylin is lucky. As she grows, she has experienced very few complications from PKD. Dylin is a happy baby who is living life to its fullest. On the outside, she is just a typical one-year-old who loves to dance.

Dylin continues to inspire her family to make a difference. Her grandparents, Mike and Mary Villamor, are building a restaurant in order to raise awareness and funds for research to benefit their granddaughter. The restaurant will be named Dylin’s Dugout and Sports Grill. Dylin’s grandparents will donate a portion of the revenues to the PKD Foundation in the name of their granddaughter. The restaurant should open its doors sometime in 2006 in St. George, UT.

The not-for-profit PKD Foundation is the only organization, worldwide, dedicated to finding a treatment and a cure for this devastating disease. For more information about PKD and the PKD Foundation, visit www.pkdcure.org or call 1-800-PKD-CURE.

March is National Kidney Month.

To schedule an interview with Kristin Cenname or other PKD patients and experts in your area, contact PKD Foundation Media Manager Jennifer Robinson at (816) 268-8493 or jenniferr@pkdcure.org.