Tour DaVita–a ride to help people at risk for kidney disease

I’ve never been to Michigan…until this week. Back in the spring I dusted off my bicycle and started doing weekly rides in preparation for Tour DaVita, a bike ride fund raising event sponsored by The Kidney Trust. Proceeds from the ride fund raising are spent on kidney disease screening and programs to help increase awareness of kidney disease risk factors.

Many people already on dialysis will agree this is a worthy cause. Many of them were never alerted to risk factors or signs of kidney disease. The chance to know you are at risk or to identify existing kidney disease can make a difference in when and if you need dialysis. If you find out about kidney disease early on, you can work on blood pressure control and/or diabetes control to help delay the progression of kidney failure and dialysis.

Diet changes like limiting sodium, balancing carbohydrate intake for diabetes control, eating healthy fats and moderating protein intake are all important in managing early kidney disease.

Unfortunately too many people find out they have kidney disease when they are in CKD stage 4 or 5–in need of dialysis instead of earlier when they could do things to make a difference.  A routine blood test for creatinine can help you know your glomerular filtration rate (GFR) to determine presence of early kidney disease.

I hope the many miles I peddle this week contributes to at least one person learning about kidney disease risk before they are diagnosed with end stage renal disease. That would make every hill and every peddle well worth the effort! Please help by letting your friends and family know about kidney disease risk factors and that detecting early kidney disease in a very important thing they can do to make a difference.