My name is Brandi Ivy I am 27 yrs old. I was diagnosed with kidney failure when I was 23. I thought my life was over. However, with God and my family’s help I survived. In the midst of my kidney failure I graduated from Alabama State University with a BS in Business Management. I also got married one year later. Now I have two more mountains to climb, one is to become a lawyer. So in the near future I plan on attending the University of Detroit to obtain my masters in business and law degree at the same time. But I need to first loose weight. I need to loose it for several reasons but the main reason is for my health. With out loosing weight I will not be eligible for a transplant. I have tried just about everything I just need some extra help!!! GOD BLESS!!!

back to top

One more mile to go as I approach the old Hudson’s department store, a good run always have seemed to relax me.  I must turn around and head home which is another three miles.  I started running back in 1978 some 30 years ago to help relieve me of asthma and bronchitis, a condition I had since birth.  As a child I didn’t run that much because of my condition.  Running was rough at first, but eventually it worked out just like the asthma and bronchitis.  The asthma and bronchitis went away and I stopped running about ten years later. 

I felt like all my troubles were over.  I started a home improvement business while attending Wayne State University.  Business was very good and overtook learning ten fold.  I enjoyed working and paying my helpers, sometimes I had as many as four helpers doing various tasks.  We/I worked very hard and built a nice business.  I eventually bought six homes, some were two family flats. 

Well, this went on 26 years until I started to get sick.  I stopped running long ago back when I started my business.  I even stopped going to church.

While doing day-to-day business, stress and anxiety consumed me; Excedrin PM became my best friend to relieve me of headaches.  I eventually went to several doctors who informed me I had high blood pressure and was suffering from Renal Failure.  Renal Failure, what the heck is Renal Failure?  I never heard of it, anyway, I continued to work and deteriorate. 

I was taking high blood pressure medicine to no avail.  Eventually my business fell off, my employees left me, and I had to sell my property one by one to live.  What a shock!  If there was ever a future shock, this was it. 

Now I am on dialysis three times a week trying to figure out what to do next.  I think I’ll start running and going back to church again for some piece of mind.  I think a treadmill would help; perhaps I’ll learn computers and develop something for DaVita to sustain me.

In the fall of 1980, I entered Barber Middle School to complete the eighth grade.  Also, this was the last year I played basketball for a team.  In 1981, I was invited by the coach at Highland Park High School to join the basketball team.  You see, I was good at playing basketball but because of some weight gain and low self-esteem I became scared and walked out of the locker room.  This probably was the biggest mistake of my life.  I was good!  I still think to this day if I had went on and entered the court I might have played college ball.  Please, I might be playing for the WNBA.  Who knows I might not be suffering with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Although I did not compete in any official sports after the eighth grade I did enjoy school.  While my friends were skipping school I knew I had to answer to my mother and eventually to my grandparents. Don’t get me wrong peer pressure can be so powerful.  I skipped so much in the 10th grade that when I received my report card I felt really ashamed.  I was so afraid that I would get caught that I hid my report card.  This lesson became a turning point in my life.  I took school much more serious and graduated in the spring of 1985.  The issue of college was not a problem for me I had my heart set on attending the University on Southern California, however, because I bombed the 10th grade in high school I did not have a grade point average that was acceptable so I ended up at Michigan State University. My mother and I were impressed with the school and it’s beautiful campus. I did what every freshman does when the find freedom. I skipped, partied, and hung out.  Unfortunately, I only went for a year and a half.  I thought I was missing something back at home.  I soon found out my close friends at that time weren’t doing very much period.  So, in the winter of 1988, I returned to Michigan State University and took school more seriously.  I had to study and work very hard to graduate.  In the spring of 1992 I graduated from MSU with a bachelors degree in communication ands arts.  I would never trade my MSU experience for anything in the world.

After my departure form MSU I secured a job at a telemarketing firm in Southfield, Michigan.  Also, I bought my first candy apple red Escort GT.  I had a car note and a future.  Little did I know that telemarketing was not in the plans for me.   I quite my job and was unemployed with no money.  I did not stay unemployed for long.  I acquired a job at Total Petroleum gas station.  While working there I learned that the world could be very cruel and prejudice. During this time I was going out with a Jamaican named Uriel Harris and soon became pregnant.  Again, I quite my job because of all day sickness.

During my pregnancy my good friend Yamilee Charles who was working as a French teacher for the Detroit Public School System told me that DPS was hiring substitute teachers.  I took her advice and I applied to become a full time substitute teacher.  All summer long I went without notice.  Then on August 30,1993 my son Dominick Small was born.  By the time I got home with my newborn son I received a notice that I had been hired for a job.  After, substituting at several schools I became a permanent building substitute at Greenfield Park Elementary.  I started working full-time, however I struggled with good quality babysitting service.  I thought at one time that I would have to move back to Kentucky with my mom.  Again, I was blessed with good friends who told me about a job at the Detroit Recreation Department.  I applied and began working in the summer of 1984. Working as play leader became a monumental stepping stone in my life.  I met an individual by the name of Maudice Klyce who encouraged me to work towards my teachers certification and masters degree in education.  As I began my new found journey I encountered some challenges.  I became a foster mother to my two cousins.  I was working two jobs caring for 3 children and going to school.  We stayed in a one bedroom apartment and saw that we needed more room.  On Halloween of 1995, I moved in to my first home. Everything was new and moving fast.  We survived, but during the fall of 1996 I had to send my boy cousin back top the children center because of behavior.  I adopted his sister the following year.  

I continued to work hard and stayed in school.  In the spring of 1998 I received my teachers certification. I also signed my first teachers contract in March of the same year.  In the fall of 1999 I completed my masters degree.  I was very happy and quickly submitted my papers for a pay raise with DPS.  

In the early part of 2000 I discovered I had an elevated creatine level.  I visited the Nephrologist at Harper Hospital for a year.  The doctor at Harper dismissed me and told me to be careful of certain medications and to watch my diet.  I tried very hard to follow her advice.  I continued to work at both jobs and take care of my children. I moved several times and in 2003 I became a young grandmother to Taliyah T. Pollard. I became a weekend babysitter.  In the fall of 2003 I stated to feel sick.  I waited until after Christmas and in January of 2004 I visited my primary physician.  He tested my blood and saw that my creatine level had escalated.  I was then referred to Dr. Kissener at Harper Hospital. I like Dr. K a lot.  He took good care of me and made me feel very comfortable.  Unfortunately my kidneys continued to fail.  By the time June came around I had contracted pneumonia and hospitalized for a week. In August of 2004 I had a Fistula inserted in my left upper arm.  Through all of these obstacles I was still trying to work.  In October I experienced my first dialysis treatment.  Unlike other patients I worked.  I have to thank my mother for coming and taking care of me for 6 months. I have tried hard to loose weight, but can’t I have been turned down twice for getting my name on the kidney transplant list because of my weight.  I thought about having Gastric Bypass surgery, but was to afraid.  I have cried many times because of this disease and not knowing what to do next.  All I knew was to work dialyze and stay compliant.  In the spring of 2006 I met 2 great social workers at the Davita – Kresger dialysis center in Detroit.  They helped me with a health scholarship program to loose weight.  I don’t know what the future holds, but God is good all the time.  I would like to thank Shad Ireland and the Fitness Grant Program for this opportunity to become fit and healthy.

My name is Demond. I was born in Detroit Michigan. I am 30 years old. I was first diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 19. At that time I was not aware that it could lead to renal failure until my doctor started sending me to the lab for a lot of blood work.

In 2003 I was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure. This was a very tough change for me and my family, because I had just gotten married and was building a life with my wife Marissa and our two sons, Marcell and Martez.  My first year was a very difficult time in our lives because I was always going to the hospital because of problems with my site clogging and many infections in my catheters.

Now things are getting better. I have lost some weight but I still need to lose about 60 pounds to get on the transplant list. I really feel the reason I keep going is because of my beautiful wife and our wonderful children. It just feels great to have a second chance by being able to go to dialysis so that I can have more time to see my two children grow up.

I also feel my days on dialysis go so good because of the people at my center, Davita in Detroit, Michigan on Cass Ave. They are very nice and did not treat me like I was sick, they treated me like a friend and that made a big difference. Thank you.