This month, I decided to give a donation to the National Kidney Foundation. After running the Healthy Kidney 10k earlier this month, I decided this was the perfect cause to focus on for May. Check out my recap of the race here to find out more about why this cause is so personal to me!
Hope you checked out the race recap because it really shows how much this particular cause means to me. I just want to leave you with an astonishing fact about kidney disease as well as the top three ways to test for it from the National Kidney Foundation website.
More than 26 million Americans-one in nine adults-have kidney disease.
Millions more are at increased risk for getting it, and most don't know it. Kidney disease can be found and treated early to prevent more serious kidney disease and other complications. The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) recommends three simple tests to check for kidney disease:
Blood pressure. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of kidney disease.
Urinalysis. A urinalysis is a test that checks a sample of your urine for the amount of protein, blood (red blood cells and white blood cells) and other things. Protein and red and white blood cells are not normally found in the urine, so having too much of any of these may mean kidney disease.
Glomerular filtration rate (GFR). GFR is estimated from results of a serum (or blood) creatinine test. The GFR tells how well your kidneys are working to remove wastes from your blood. It is the best way to check kidney function.
Ask your doctor about these three simple tests. They should be done at least once a year so that if you have early kidney disease, it can be treated right away. Early kidney disease can and should be treated to keep it from getting worse!
Andrea :)
I love that you donate to causes that mean the most to you. Just recently I attended a luncheon about "Go Red" for women's heart disease and it was incredibly eye opening. I hope to get more involved with their charitable work this year!
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