As someone who has been on dialysis for over two decades, I know that access to consistent, affordable care is not optional; it's life or death. Kidney disease almost cost me my life. I spend over a month in the hospital when I was first diagnosed, and dialysis is what allowed me to rebuild my strength and survive. A previous kidney transplant eventually failed, and today I'm back on dialysis and at the top of Colorado's transplant list. Dialysis takes a massive physical and mental toll. Some days, simply getting through treatment feels like a full-time job. Despite the challenges, [...]

In 2009, I was diagnosed with kidney failure. My condition deteriorated so quickly that I was life-flighted and placed in a medically induced coma for 10 days. When I woke up, I had to relearn how to walk and soon began dialysis. My kidneys briefly recovered, but in 2014 they failed again. After spending four years navigating the transplant waitlist, I was fortunate enough to receive a kidney in October 2018 at the University of Utah Hospital. I was able to move forward with transplantation only because I had Medicare during dialysis and later had access to my spouse’s employer-sponsored [...]

I’ve lived with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) since I was 9. ESRD is permanent kidney failure. Dialysis, a process that filters your blood when your kidneys no longer can, is what keeps me alive. I’ve spent over 20 years on dialysis, and I now do treatments at home several times a week. I worked most of my adult life, taking advantage of reliable private insurance from my employers for my costly treatments. That coverage helped me stay independent and maintain my health. But I recently became quite ill and had to stop working. My only option to supplement Medicare [...]