Total Mom-sense!: Something close to my heart and my family.

Ok, so I apparently SUCK at blogging so far. Umm...August was the last time I posted. Wow....good thing I'm not reporting the news or anything, huh!?!?
Time to get back to it and be a little more "regular". Well...great. THAT sounds like an advertisement for Activia.
Soooooo, for now I am just going to post a little video about something that is very close to my heart:

PKD

(Polycystic Kidney Disease)

This disease affects more than 600,000 Americans and more than 12.5 Million people worldwide. It is one of the MOST COMMON life threatening genetic diseases, affecting more people than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophelia and sickle cell anemia - COMBINED!

So, why is this important for me to share with whoever is reading this? I have been personally touched by the devastating effects of this disease.

This is what PKD looks like on the INSIDE.

Here are the people in my most immediate family that have or had the disease:

My Grandma

My Great-Aunt

My Uncle ( x2)

My Brother

My Mom

My Grandma, one Uncle, my Great-Aunt and most recently, my brother, all died from complications of this dreadful disease. It's a lot of loss in one family from ONE disease.

My brother, Jason, died almost 2 years ago at the very young age of just 34. He was just 3 years younger than me. I can't even imagine the pain and suffering he had to deal with and I still can't believe he is gone. He was always such a happy guy, so full of love and life. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him.

This is me and my brother Jason, in 1994. We always had so much fun together!

My AMAZING Mom has PKD too. She was on kidney dialysis (like most of my family members with the disease) for a few years before she was lucky enough to receive a kidney transplant. The transplant is NOT a cure, but it does allow her to live without the necessity of dialysis and feel so much better. I am so grateful, every day, to the young girl and her brave family. They made a decision, at a truly sorrowful time in their lives, to give the gift of life through organ donation. I have my Mom with me and my daughter gets to have her most wonderful Grandma to play with and love, because of this miraculous and special gift.