Working through it: Killeen woman has had tough journey battling kidney disease
By Erin Eskew | Herald Correspondent | Feb 25, 2023
A Killeen woman is working to make resources available for those suffering from kidney disease, after her own difficult diagnosis.
“You have polycystic kidney disease, it’s a hereditary disease,” Davonna Green recalled the diagnosis she received just over 20 years ago at the age of 29.
“What does this mean?” she responded with a blank stare.
“It means you are going to die of kidney failure or you’re going to die of heart disease,” her doctor responded.
Davonna felt completely lost, “He didn’t give me a website — he sent me to research it online.”
How do I not die of kidney disease?
How do I not die of heart failure?
Shocked. Depressed. Overwhelmed. Davonna said she asked questions, but her doctor had no answers.
“I had just had my second child,” Davonna said. “I have had one — maybe two good doctors since then who tried their best to give me information and resources, but my experiences in the nephrology community have been horrible.”
The lack of available information is one of the greatest challenges Davonna has faced since her diagnosis, along with dismissive medical personnel.
“There are so many kidney patients, you get treated as one of 1 million people,” Davonna said “‘Just go over there and sit with the other million people asking the same questions.’”
Living with kidney disease did not have a major impact on her life early on, Davonna said.
But in those early days, she raised her children as a single mother, going to the emergency room sick after her children went to bed, and being home to fix them breakfast the next morning...
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