Rina's Army

 In May of this past year, Rina was diagnosed with FSGS, Focal Segmental Glomerular Sclerosis, a form of kidney disease. What exactly does it mean to have FSGS? In a nutshell, the tiny filters in Rina’s kidneys are damaged and no longer filter the blood through her kidneys appropriately. As more and more filters get damaged, or scarred, her kidneys work less and less. The first line of defense for treatment is the use of steroids but for patients that are considered steroid-resistant (meaning the steroids are not working) the likelihood of kidney failure increases. After two months of high levels of steroids and all of its side-effects, Rina was considered steroid-resistant. So now Rina is on to the second line of defense, a drug called Prograf. This drug can cause kidney damage…oh the irony...and can only be administered for a certain number of years because in high enough dosages, it can be very toxic to the body.
 As of today Rina has been on Prograf for almost a month and all we can do is wait and see if her numbers improve. Doctors don’t exactly know why this happened to Rina and FSGS is not an easy disease to treat. So here is Rina’s new reality – many patients with FSGS will eventually progress to kidney failure and need a kidney transplant. As many as 50% of people that are lucky enough to find a match and get a transplant will relapse. AND, usually a return of FSGS in the transplant occurs soon after the surgery, many times within hou to days. There are other medical conditions that can cause FSGS but when doctors can’t find one, then they attribute it to something in the person’s blood that is causing it. For Rina, as far as doctors can tell, the disease happened on its own. This is Rina’s new normal.
 Rina, like all patients with FSGS, fights every day for another day. Rina fights for her daughters Ashlee and Yartiza, for her parents Pello and Luchy, for her sisters Norelys and Shirley, for her niece Isabella and her nephews Gabriel, Ashten and Cristian. Rina fights for all those that have lost their battle to FSGS and for those that are still fighting. She fights for all that have lost loved ones to FSGS and for those that love and care for patients fighting this disease. Rina is a warrior that has taken this battle head on and has an incredible amount of people by her side. Will you join us in helping Rina fight this battle?