The call from the hospital came in August 2019, on my wife’s birthday. They had my lab results back, and my blood glucose had shot up to very high levels. I needed to go to the emergency room immediately. It turned out I had a dangerous condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. I was kept in the ICU for four days, and left the hospital as a Type 2 insulin dependent diabetic.

I was shocked, and feeling beaten down. I thought, “Are you kidding me?” A kidney transplant in 2017 had gone well at first, but then the anti-rejection medications triggered a new set of health issues, including a respiratory condition. Now I was taking two types of insulin every day on top of my other medications for the kidney transplant.  

Once my lungs cleared up, doctors were able to reduce the prednisone dose, which in turn helped with the diabetes. Now I no longer need insulin to manage my Type 2 diabetes. I do it with diet and exercise. 

I think it is important to raise funds to learn more about the link between diabetes and kidney disease. I don’t want anybody else to have to experience what I went through. It would be great to have new advances in transplantation, so that the medications you take after surgery have fewer side effects.  We have to keep working to find a cure, and that research costs money.  

Too many Canadians have their lives cut short by diabetic kidney disease. Donate now. Let’s end diabetic kidney disease.