How I Faced a Rare Kidney Disease in High School and Came Out Stronger

Photo courtesy of the American Kidney Fund As a 17-year-old high school student, Emani McConnell-Brent never expected to face a life-changing diagnosis, however, during the first week of her senior year of high school, she began experiencing debilitating stomach pain prompting her to go to the emergency room. “The ER doctor said, ‘Hey, the amount of protein in your urine is concerning, so let’s do a 24-hour urinalysis.’ After that, she said, “The amount of protein in your urine is overwhelming at this point, and I’m extremely concerned.” We did the biopsy a few weeks or a few months later, and that’s when I got diagnosed with FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis) in 2021,” she shares  Before being diagnosed with FSGS, “a rare type of kidney disease that causes scarring in the filters of the kidneys”, doctors were concerned Emani may have had lupus or nephrotic syndrome, a chronic kidney disease.   “They didn’t know what was going on. When I went to the first nephrologist, the concern was that the condition was brought on by obesity. So, I went to a different nephrologist to get a second opinion and see what could be done,” Emani adds. “They put me on medications,...