I was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease on my 25^th birthday. While having a scan for a unrelated problem, the Doctors discovered the cysts on my kidneys. Doctors were actually puzzled as to whether I might have something different than PKD, since there wasn’t any known PKD history in my family. After DNA testing, it was later confirmed. After numerous tests the first year, my doctors concluded that I was stable. Even though my kidneys were functioning normal, I was advised not to have any more children or take any form of hormones which included birth control. Hormones (estrogen) can cause the cysts to spread and grow. The advice was a little too late, as I found out I was pregnant with Dylin. I thought the 9 months off from testing sounded great, but it wasn’t too long into my pregnancy that Dylin’s first cyst was discovered during an ultrasound. At that point on I lived at the OB’s office!

After Dylin was born, I had a CT Scan which showed that the specialist were correct. The disease had now spread to my pancreas and liver. My kidneys had enlarged and the scan denoted more cysts. The good news was that my kidney function had still remained normal. I had a brain scan in 2004 and it too was normal. Since we were at again another stable point, I had to start focusing on the positive. As I started to search for a cure for this disease, I discovered the PKD Foundation. www.PKDCure.org