Last week, singer Selena Gomez announced that she received a new kidney from BFF Francia Raisa. She is battling Lupus which caused her to develop Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.
So people ask me What caused your kidney disease? Doctors think it was IgA Nephropathy. What’s that? Well, Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is an antibody, a protein that attacks pathogens and helps fight infections. Sometimes IgA gets stuck in the kidneys, causing inflammation and enough damage to shut down the kidneys. That’s what happened to mine.
What causes IgA Nephropathy? Researchers don’t know exactly what causes IgA deposits in the kidneys. There really wasn’t anything I could do to avoid it. I just got “lucky.”
But now that you have a new kidney, do you still have IgA Nephropathy? Possibly. It’s a slow progressing disease. In time it may affect my new kidney. Kidneys (from living donors) often stop working in about 15 years anyways so by then I may not know what will cause my kidneys to fail again. But 15 years is the average. Doctors say mine could last for the rest of my life!
So now you know. That concludes today’s mini science class.
P.S. The two leading causes of CKD are high blood pressure and diabetes. If that’s you, get that under control! You could develop kidney disease. There is no cure or treatment for CKD. Once you have it, no pill or medicine will heal your kidneys.
Hello Kidney! 
So very interesting, Doris! Praises for your potential !! Bless you, Betty
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