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Community DC Michele Anthony NKF March 2026 Final · Community D.C.

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Ennis Clascow. This morning, we welcome back
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to the program the executive director for the National Kidney Foundation,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Michelle Anthony, plus a special guest going into his eighth
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: NFL SE's in defensive tackle for the New York Jets,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Colin Saunders.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: He'll be joining us to talk about his.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Mom, who has received a kidney and also his involvement
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: with NKF, including using the NFL's Might Cause My Cleats initiative.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And Colin also is being awarded the twenty twenty six
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Kidney Champion Award by the NKF on Monday, March sixteenth.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with both Michelle and Colin. I hope
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you enjoy it as much as I did. Well, Listen,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We've got a lot to talk to you about because
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I know that we've got a summit coming up, we've
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: got a gala coming up, and then we have a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: special guest coming up. So before we do all of that,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: we have listeners that you know a little bit about
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the National Kidney Foundation, but I always like to do
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a re education for the listeners that maybe have heard
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: about it, but don't know what you do, So if
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you could give a thirty thousand foot view of NKF,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: can you tell us what you do there at the foundation?
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: We are the leading nonprofit in the country focused on
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: preventing kidney disease, improving the health of patients with kidney disease,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: increasing transplant availability for everyone, and we provide resources and
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: education and support for patients and for professionals while advocating
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: for policy changes such as one of the big ones
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: that we've done in recent years is eliminating racial disparities
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: in kidney diagnosis. We're looking at some of that systemic
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: some of the systemic issues that have existed, you know,
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: in our healthcare system. So we you know, we do
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: a lot of patient education locally, patient empowerment workshops. We
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: do professional education so we can keep renal professionals, you know,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: on the brink of the cutting edge technologies awareness and prevention.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: And we do fundraising to support our programs both nationally
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: and locally.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: As we look at maybe the DMV, but also nationally,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: what kind of numbers are we looking at when it
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: comes to kidney disease in twenty twenty six, or maybe
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know when your numbers are from twenty twenty five. Well,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: what's the latest data that you have, just to kind
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: of share the education part of the kind of people
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: that are affected by kidney disease today.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's staggering and most people don't realize that thirty
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: seven million Americans are affected by kidney disease. That's one
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: in seven adults, or fifteen percent of.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: The adult popula. That is a staggering number.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: Staggering and even more staggering, only ten percent are DIAGNOSEDDESS.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: So there are so many people.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Ninety percent of those who have kidney disease or walking
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: around like ticking time bombs, right.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: They don't know that they have it.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: They're progressing slowly potentially to kidney failure, which is where
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: you need dialysis or a transplant in order to live.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: So really getting educating people about the leading causes of
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: kidney disease, you know, diabetes and hypertension, and making sure
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: that if they have those that they are being tested
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: because if we can catch kidney disease in its earlier stages,
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: we might be able to prevent the progression.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: So that's really important.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: But locally, you know, the numbers are We have among
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: the highest rates of kidney disease in the nation in
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: the Washington DC area, which you know, it's unfortunate we're
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: number one and that statistic, right, But we have about
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: seven hundred thousand people living with kidney disease and about
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: fourteen thousand of those are on dialysis. More than two
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: thousand individuals are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: And then if you add in now that my office
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: covers the entire state of Virginia, we have a million
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: adults with kidney diseased in the in the Commonwealth and
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: one hundred thousand diagnosed nine hundred thousand not diagnosed.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I did want to ask you about this as we
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: unpack just the information that you gave us server the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: last minute. When it comes to demographics, and I know
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: that you know when it comes to certain diseases that
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: it doesn't discriminate. But as you take a look at
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: all the data when it comes to different ages, men
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and women, are races and all of it, what are
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: we kind of looking at as you take a look
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: at the latest data, who it's affecting.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, if you have a family history of kidney
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: failure you know runs in families. Seniors over six years
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: older at greater risk if you belong to a population
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: group with a high rate of diabetes or high blood pressure,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, American
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Indian all at greater risk of kidney disease. And in fact,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: African Americans are four times more likely than whites to
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: have kidney failure and Hispanics two and a half times
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: more likely. So it affects certain groups, it affects certain ages,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: although anyone anytime could have kidney disease. R you know,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: there are genetic causes as well, but you know, we
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: focused very heavily on the preventable causes of kidney disease, diabetes,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: and hypertension.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Right well, I want to talk about that because there
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: are signs, but the most important thing I'd like you
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to talk about going to the doctor in screenings. And
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you and I have talked about this before, You've been
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: on the program many times, and I don't think that
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: you and I can stress enough that going to the
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: doctor being screened, especially if you have any of those
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: kind of symptoms that you talked about. Can you kind
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: of elaborate on that just a little bit more.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there are simple tests.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: If you belong to one of those groups, or if
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: you have diabetes or hypertension, ask your doctor about your
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: kidneys because it doesn't necessarily come up in conversation, and
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: even if you have high blood pressure.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: So there are simple tests.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: There's a urine test called u A c R and
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: a blood test a blood test called eg f R.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: They're on the standard you.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Know panel when you when you go to your doctor's
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: office and you get blood taken or you give a
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: urine sample. So those two tasks combined they're called the
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: kidney profile. We'll give you a pretty accurate picture of
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: your kidney functioning, but advocate for yourself.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: It's so important.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: a pretty young age and they never mentioned kidney disease
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: to me at all. I know, I know to look
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: for these things, but it didn't come up in the
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: natural you know, conversations. So we work with you know,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: doctors in primary care to really see if we can
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: get that sort of worked more into the regular appointments
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: and into you know, the conversations and the workflows because
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: it's being largely ignored unfortunately.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: All right, cautionary tale that you know, if you do
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: have kidney disease and you don't get it checked out,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that can happen, including
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of dialysis, which is time consuming, it can
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: be expensive, and then maybe even having to get a
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: kidney in being on the wait list. I'd love to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: you to address those talk a little bit. And I
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: realized that dialists dialysis is when the centers, there's more
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: of them, and it's more prevalent now and people can
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: actually do it at home, which is remarkable where technology
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: is moving. With that said, when it comes to dialysis,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: how many people you know either in the region or
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: in America or on it right now? And what's their
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: lives like? Because when I've heard about it through other
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: people and their family members have been on it, I'm going,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: my gosh, I don't want to be.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: There for that.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: That is just it's brutal, it sounds it is.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: It's a very punishing although life saving, yes, regiment, yes,
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: And locally in the National Capital Area, in the DC area,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: we have fourteen thousand dialysis patients, but if you look
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: at our larger region, much larger numbers, and there are
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: hundreds of thousands of Americans on dialysis. And you see, unfortunately,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: the centers opening up all the time, right some of
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: the some of the larger companies, and you're seeing them
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: opening up in strip malls and you know, shopping centers
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: and things like that.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: There are.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: The people headed to transplant.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: There are close to one hundred thousand people on the
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: waiting list for transplants. So if you're on dialysis and
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: you're transplant eligible, you can get on the waiting list, but.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: The list is long.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: You're you're on the list for like six years on average.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: So that's, you know, really daunting. And we really encourage
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: living donation. We educate about did you know that you
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: can donate a kidney and be perfectly fine, live, live
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: a perfectly healthy love for people out there who who
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: want to donate to a family member, friend, and there
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: are people who want to donate to a complete stranger
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: and just because they feel the calling. Did you have
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: you have you heard about Jesse Eisenberg?
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Yes? Soenter in fact, yes I have.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Isn't it?
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: He's so inspiring? He really learned he learned the numbers.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: He was watching a podcast and he he just had
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: a calling. He's like, that's what I want to do.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: And last December he donated. You know, he called a
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: transplant center, he did the testing, he was healthy, everything
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: went great, and he donated a kidney to a stranger.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Incredible And for a little context for people out there.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: An actor, he was in Now You See Me, Now
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: You Don't movies and also he played Mark Zuckerberg in
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the Facebook movie, so that youd give you a little context.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: He's a very famous actor, but very thoughtful. And when
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I saw that story a couple of months ago, I said,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: my goodness, that is a heck of a sacrifice and huge.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I do want to do this because you brought a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: special guest with us and we're going to visit with him.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Plays in the NFL. I believe he's going into his
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: eight season with the New York Jets on the offensive line.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Colin Saunders and his mom had kidney disease, was on
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: dialysis for a very long time as long as he
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: can remember, when he was in the sixth grade, and
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: she finally got a kidney. And it really is an
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: exceptional story and once again it can grab anybody.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: But he shares a story.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about before we
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: meet him about how you know, because I know he
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: did might cause my cleats, which is huge. Yeah, And
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: for the people don't know. In the NFL, I think
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: it's week thirteen or fourteen. Whatever player and coach wants
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: to highlight a nonprofit or a charity or foundation they're
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: working with, it's actually painted on their cleats, which is huge.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: And it's a wonderful thing that the NFL does. The
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: players love it, the coaches love it. It really is special.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: But Colin is also very special and he's got a
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: special mom too.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and you can't miss those orange cleats, right.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Branding I love, I love it really really sticks out. Yeah.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: So he You know, his mother did many, many years
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: of dialysis. She had a kidney transplant in twenty nineteen,
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: and she is she's very grateful for the work of
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: the National Kidney Foundation and we're so grateful to be
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: in touch.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Colin is with the New York Jets now going into
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: his eighth season, but during the off season he's making
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: a special visit to to d C for our Kidney
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Patient Summit. So tomorrow evening he's going to be part
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: of the summit where we bring in patients from across
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: the country, living donors from across the country, where they
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: learn how to share their story and they learn about,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: you know, the the advocacy issues that are most important
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: to the National Kidney Foundation to support kidney patients. So
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: on tomorrow they will be in sessions and then on
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Tuesday they will be going out on Capitol Hill meeting
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: in groups with their elected officials, with congress folks, and
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: with senators to really raise awareness about kidney disease early detection. Huge, yeah,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: home transplant, I mean home home dialysis, kidney transplant.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: So Colin is going to be a part of that.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: At our reception tomorrow night, we're going to be presenting
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: him with the Kidney Champion Award for all that he's
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: doing to raise awareness and to use his platform to
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: raise awareness because he understands the importance of you know,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: really doing something meaningful, not transactional, you know, something meaningful
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: with his platform in the NFL.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Well, absolutely huge j And with that said, here's my
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: conversation with Colin and his remarkable mom.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Colin, Hey, good morning, good morning. How you
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: guys know we're great? Hey, thank you.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I was talking with Michelle Anthony about you and your
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: amazing ball mean with the National Kidney Foundation. I know
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: you've got a journey and a real personal story with
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: your mom. Also, you involved, you know, with your NFL
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: work might cause Mike cleats when it came to the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: National Kidney Foundation. I saw the pictures. It was so cool.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: But I'd love to hear about your journey and your mom.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I know that you're close special she's had a transplant.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me about her story?
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely?
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, you know, growing up, you know, my mom
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: always had a high blood pressure and you know, higher
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: tension and things like of that nature, which are actually
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: very prevalent in the black community. And so it was
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: kind of just, oh, you know, she has my high
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: blood pressure. She probably eats you know, too much salt, whatever,
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: you know, the taste might be. And then that's when
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: we start getting to trying to figure out, you know,
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: what the more serious underlying problem was. And that's when
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: we kind of figured out about the kidney issues.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: And so, man, you.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: Know, anybody who has had anybody in their family go
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: through the kidney issues know all about the dialysis and
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: how long that stuff takes and how much of their
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: of the time and in a patient's life that that
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: can take up. So, uh, you know, that was my
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: first kind of introduction to anything regarding kidney issues and
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: how it would affect my mom and how you know,
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: my mom is a really big uh not not alcohol drinker,
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: but just like she would used to drink a lot
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: of water and a lot of fluids and stuff, and
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: how she can't really couldn't really do that anymore because
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: she didn't want to, you know, drown out her kidney
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: or anything like that. So you know, that was kind
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: of my introduction to it, and uh, seeing the firsthand
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: in home kind of made me realize, you know, how
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: how serious of a problem this this is and could be,
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: especially if you don't take the right steps and do
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: the right recoveries. And so unfortunately, you know, I seen
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: both sides of it. Uh was my mom who got
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: her kidney transplant and did everything right and was on
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: top of it, and then I've seen the other way
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: with a cousin who got a trip actually did get
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: a kidney transplant, but wasn't really staying on top of
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: everything they were supposed to be doing as far as
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: the post recovery and they unfortunately end up passing away.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: So you know, I got to see both sides of it,
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: and that's kind of why i'm here now. And like
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: I said, with the my Cause my cleats is a
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: no brainer, uh, to show my respect and support for
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: the Kidney Foundation because they you know, my mom was
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: on that list, and I remember the days of her
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: waiting to get that call and when she finally did
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: get it, you know, just the joy and extra life
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: I feel like that she she ended up being able
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: to get. So I'm just very thankful for this foundation,
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: and I'm very thankful for the work that the National
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: Kidney Foundation does.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: All Right, the most important thing, when did your mom
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: get the kidney? How is she doing right now?
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so my mom was on dialysis since I want
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: to say, I was in sixth grade and she got
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: her kidney in twenty nineteen, so I can't remember what
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: years I was in sixth grade.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: But that's a long time though.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: That's a long time, you know, and so so I
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: know over ten years for sure at least. And yeah,
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: she's doing great though, I mean absolutely thriving. Like you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: like I said, she takes it very seriously, She's never
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: drink alcohol or did any type of drugs in the
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: first place, So that kind of helped her case, because
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: you know, some people that do drink and have kidney problems,
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: that's a whole nother issue to have to deal with,
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: you know, being getting off of alcohol entirely or that
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: depends on how heavily they drink. So kind of lucky
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: in that regard that my mom wasn't ever really a
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: big drinker in the first place. And and yeah, she
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: now though she man, I mean she uh, she calls
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: her kidney. Uh, what's her name for Kennedy, She named.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Her kid I love that. I love that. It's great.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: She takes good care of Kennedy though. Man, she she
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: you know, she always is looking for making sure that
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: she has you know, the right care and medicine and
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: stuff like that, and going to the doctor and listening
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: to what they say, you know, they say, try and
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: get more and get active more. She'll you know, go
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: to the park and do some stuff. And she travels
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: a lot. She loves to travel. Actually, her birthday was
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: February twentieth, and she just got back from like a
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: week long vacation and Aruba, and.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: That's wonderful and probably and probably things that she couldn't
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: do when she was on dialysis. So I mean, it
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: really is life changing, isn't it called exactly exactly?
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: That's that, honestly is the biggest point right there, is
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: that like dialysis literally takes half, if not more, of
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: these patients' lives.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: You know, like I sat there and my mom and
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: she had two big old boys to take care of,
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: you know, like to feed us, and she's catching a
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: bus because we didn't have a car up until I
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: want to say, my sophomore year high school.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: So she's catching the bus going to.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: Work, going straight from work to dialysis and being there
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: for another like twelve hours, you know what I mean,
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: and coming home and having about seven hours six or
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: seven hours at home completely. And I remember a lot
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: of those days. And I remember her dialysis center was
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: about ten minutes away from my school, so sometimes I
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: used to have to come up there and drive home
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: because you know, you would be pretty weak after diallasis
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: and stuff. So it was a lot of times I
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: had to do that or catch a bus tour drive
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: home because she couldn't didn't have the energy to drive home.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: So from working in from DYLSA. So you know, it's
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: just man, when you say it is life changing, it's
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: truly life changing. Like they you know, they getting even
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: just getting back the time, you know, like getting back
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: those twelve to fourteen hours that you have to just
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: sit in a chair with this long needle in your arm,
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: and you know what I mean, Like I and so
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: I got to you know, I'm so I'm happy that
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: she was on that list, and I'm happy that she
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: ended up getting that getting that transplant. She actually got
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: a transplant literally right as I had got drafted. So
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: it was it was a good timing because then I
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: was able to retire her and you know, send her
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: on them trips that she wanted to go on. So
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: I've been proud to be able to do.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: That for well, that's huge calling. Then your mom sounds
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: like a remarkable woman. And I think you're kind of
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: giving us a small snapshot. When somebody has kinny disease,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: it's not pretty and it can be brewed, dialysis and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: then waiting for a kidney. Possibly some people get it
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: something they don't. The last thing I want to leave
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: you with, and I know you addressed it at the
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: beginning of our conversation. You know, I'm a big sports fan,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and the NFL is a big machine and they allow
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: a lot of things and they don't allow a lot
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: of things. But I think that my cause my cleats
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: has been one of the coolest things. I know that
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: you also support some mother foundations, but this one's very
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: important and there you were able to showcase it with
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: your cleats, and I saw the photo.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: It was so cool. I think it's just I know,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: it's probably.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Easy for you to do at least you would probably
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: say that, but that you did that, and that you're
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: putting that spotlight on such a big stage. Your mom's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: got to be proud of you for doing that. Man,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I think it's so cool.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, if I was working at a roger Man.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: You're doing a little more than that.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, she's uh, you said, this is very proudsy
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: you know, the work that I'm trying to do, uh
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: and shedding a spotlight on kidney disease is she's just
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: happy about that. So, you know, I mean, obviously she's
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: gotten her kidney, but she does also my mom is
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: a really you know, the mom that everybody wants to
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: be like she wants to be everybody's mom, and so
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: she has no problem with going and like talking to
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: groups and stuff and just seeing her and that's kind
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: of her calling, you know. Like my mom was always
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: has been in an instructor role when she was at work.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: You know that at first she was with the Bank
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: of America as in like teaching new employees, and then
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: she ended up going to uh Metro the metro bus
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: system to teach people how to drive buses and trains
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: and stuff. So she's always been an instructor teacher role.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: And now that you know, she's kind of on the
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: other side of the dialysis and I mean other others
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: out of the kidney transplant, and her body is accepting
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: the kidney pretty well. That's another thing that I've learned
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: that you have to be on top of your stuff
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: after you get the kidney because your body can very
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: well reject the kidney well, right, and so and I'm
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: happy and I'm proud of my mom for doing everything
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: in her power to make sure that her body didn't
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: reject the kidney. So yeah, like I said, Kennedy is
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: doing doing really well. And you know, I think that
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: my mom is in a way better position. And I
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: think she enjoys being able to go out and talk
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: to you know, God, people like you and the Kidney
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Foundation and you know, any dialysis and that she can
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: get into because she feels so strongly about dialysis and
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: kidney issues in general, and she just wants, you know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: if you're in that position to where you can change
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: your life, she wants you to do that because she
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: knows how it is, you know, she knows how it
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: feels to sitting there for twelve fourteen hours and how
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: that takes a lot of time out your week, and
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: you know, you can't you can't skip it like it's
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: a I don't know, I don't think it's an everyday thing,
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: but I'm pretty sure it's a weeks three times a
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: week ago. So you know, that's fourteen hours, three times
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: a week. You listen a lot of life, you know,
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: And so I think that, you know, that's one thing
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: that she loves to go and just talk to people
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: and encourage them because that's kind of the person she is.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: And uh, and I'm and like I said, I'm tremendously
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: proud of her just for staying on top of her stuff.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: And you know, it could have easily been where she
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: got it and thought that it was just everything was good,
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: but she didn't take it that way. And like I said,
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: I'm just proud of for it well.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And speaking of proud, she sounds like a remarkable woman. Glin.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I know that you're happy that she's around and she's thriving.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I know she's proud of you too for supporting this
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: cause and what you do stay healthy.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I know it's the off season. You got year. What
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: season number nine coming up?
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: Steve number eight? Man?
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I jumped ahead, all right, that's a bye by the
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: way for all sports fans, especially with the National Football League,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: careers are very short and that hey, Colin's going into
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: season eight and what he does banging, hiss and every
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: play is huge.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: So I want you to stay healthy, man.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: But it's really generous of you to spend some time
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: to talk about your mom in the National Kidney Foundation.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, com for joining us on Community DC.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: You thanks for having me.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, Michelle, that was a great conversation with Colin and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: his story, his journey, but his mom going through dialysis
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: with all those years, finally getting a kidney I did
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about funding because this is very
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: important and I know you're always advocating, you know, whether
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: you're doing Capitol Hill or whether you're working in the
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: DMV or talking to peers around the country. It's it's
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: really a big deal when it comes to funding. And
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I know that people can give and there's many ways
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: to do that, but let's talk about how you are
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: funded and how people can give back.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, there are many ways to help. You can help
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: raise awareness by joining us, following us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: x at NKF n C A for our local kidney
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: dot org for our national organization, and really educate others
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: about what you learned today. You can donate directly to
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: the National Kidney Foundation. We just celebrated our seventy fifth anniversary.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: That's huge, isn't that.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe seventy five years I feel so young.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Now, by the way, Michelle's not been around on the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: earth that long, nor have I, so and everybody to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: pump the brakes. I know you're already picking on this
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: because we're Seahawk fans, but don't make us old people now.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So you can donate, you can donate money, you
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: can donate your car, you can you know, make a
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: donation online.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: You can support our events.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of events locally which are fun
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: ways to give and also ways.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: To meet other orders in the community.
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: You know, we have a walk annually in October, we
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: have a golf.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: Tournament in June.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: We have our gala, the Kidney Ball coming up at
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: the end of March.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: That's another way to give.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: And you know, the the other event that I just
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: wanted to mention was you know a little bit about
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: the kidney patients on it and March is kidney month, really,
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: so we are celebrating Kidney month. It is a time
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: to raise awareness about kidney health and to really shine
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: the spotlight on chronic kidney disease. March twelfth, we just
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: celebrated World Kidney Day, where we will be doing you
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: know where we did a.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Variety of programs for the community.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: And for professionals to to raise awareness and to educate
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: them about cutting edge.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Technologies and whatnot.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: But just to reiterate, you know, thirty seven million Americans
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: have CKD and ninety percent of them are not aware
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: of it. So you know, the key risk factors include
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: diabetes and hypertension, heart disease. So we use this platform
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: to really raise awareness about kidney disease and prevention and
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: what you can do and how you can live a
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: healthier life for your kidneys.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Very good.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: We just have a few minutes left and we will
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: give the website. But as I'm on the website right now, Michelle,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: there really is so much information on there, and of
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: course there is the donate button in the right hand corner,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: and Michelle talked about all the ways that you can give,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and there really are quite a few different ways that
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: you can do that. But if you just want to
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: get educated about kidney health, there are so many different
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: tabs with new stories and the topics diet and nutrition,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: assessing your kidney health and you know, treatment and support,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: everything that goes to you know, getting a kidney and
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: how you go about doing that. Just all sorts of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: different ways that you can really get a lot of
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: information on that.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: You and your team but done a great.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Job with the website because I realized there's a lot
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: of information on there. But I really want to encourage
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: people after you give the web address, Michelle, to go
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: on there because if you either have it in your
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: family or you think somebody might be having or even
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: yourself having some kidney issues, go on there and check
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: it out, because they really do. It's a guide and
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: it can answer all of your questions, and it really
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: is very thorough, isn't it.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, Yes, there is.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: Our website is kidney dot org and if you go
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: to the treatment and Support tab you can really just
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: learn so much from newly diagnosed to any stage you know,
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: in the in the kidney disease process. We have a
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: helpline called and KF Cares where you can you can
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: call and talk to train professionals and ask any questions
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: you might have and they'll give you all kinds of resources.
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: We have a Peers program so that anyone, say a
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: newly diagnosed patient or somebody considering living donation, So if
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: they join that Peers program, they can be linked up
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: with a peer one on one to learn more about
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: where they are in their process. And from the living
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: donors that I've met, they said that is invaluable if
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: they're considering living donation to talk to someone who has
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: walked in their shoes where they can really talk about
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: the real experience, you know, when when the rubber hits
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: the road. We haven't asked the doctors on our website,
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: we have online communities, we have just so many different
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: resources so that you realize that you're not walking alone,
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: You're not in this alone.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: There are other people and we're here for you.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Michelle, Thank you so much for your valuable time. Continue
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: success at all you're doing, because I know you're working
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: your tail off, and thanks for getting calling for us.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: He was great to talk to.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: Yes, he's wonderful. We can't wait to honor him tomorrow night.