It is with a heavy heart that DPC and the DPC Education Center Board, staff, and volunteers learned of the passing of our Board Vice President, Natalie Zuniga. Natalie was from San Antonio, TX, where she lived with her husband of 40 years, Eddie, and raised their daughter. Natalie worked as a corporate travel agent for over 30 years before she was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a job she loved because she got to travel and meet new people. Natalie was a dialysis patient for 10 years prior to receiving a transplant just a month ago.
Though Natalie’s initial diagnosis of ESRD was difficult, she leaned on the support of her husband, also and ESRD patient, and her daughter and son-in-law, and became of pillar of support in her community. She volunteered at her local food pantry, and attended DPC’s 2019 Advocacy Day in Washington, DC to meet with legislators and their staff to advocate for dialysis patients. While there, she met and was inspired by many other kidney disease patients, and in December 2020 was elected to DPC’s Board of Directors. In August of 2022, Natalie became Board Vice President and advocated tirelessly for expanded Medigap access for dialysis patients, as well as writing multiple articles for the DPC Education Center on everything from emergency preparedness for patients to phosphorus management. She was always willing to speak-up for patients and to help her fellow advocates.
We are so grateful to Natalie for her many years of leadership and dedication to improving the lives of kidney patients. Her kindness and voice will be sorely missed on the DPC and Education Center Boards, as well as by the larger kidney community.
