When a disease signals start of a new life

WORLD KIDNEY DAY

When a disease signals start of a new life

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.03.2021 

A tennis coach, a dancer, an IT professional. A dramatist, a yoga teacher. They come from different worlds, yet belong to the same one — of those living well with kidney disease.

The five were part of a group of people who came together on World Kidney Day to speak out about how kidney disease does not mean the end of life.

“It’s just the beginning of a new one, a healthier more disciplined one,” said Dr Rajan Ravichandran, nephrologist and chairman of the Sapiens Health Foundation, an NGO championing the cause of kidney failure patients for over two decades, and organizer of the World Kidney Day event.

In keeping with the year’s theme – living well with kidney disease -- several people who had successfully battled kidney disease were honoured by the foundation.

While actor Madhu Balaji, of The ‘Crazy’ Drama Troupe and kidney donor to his sister-in-law, spoke on the importance of organ donation, dancer K Sangeetha spoke about how surviving Lupus, an automimmune disease. “I was diagnosed when I was14 years old. The disease resulted in kidney failure. My mother donated her kidney to me,” said Sangeetha. “I just want people to know that while kidney disease can take a toll on your physical health, mental health is just as important. You need to keep strong and tell yourself you can do it.Today, I have my own Youtube channel, I teach dance, and I am doing my UGC teacher’s training programme. Everything is possible, just keeping looking ahead.”

IT professional Shyam Shankar J spoke about how his family survived Covid 19. “My father is on dialysis, my mother has a kidney ailment due to protein loss, I have had a kidney transplant and we all tested positive for Covid19. It was traumatic because we were the first people in our apartment building to get Covid and were forced out of home quarantine into a hospital by our neighbours,” said Shyam. “We survived the ordeal. I just want to tell people there need not be any phobia or stigma about the disease.”