After Rebirth: From Dialysis Patient to Health Educator — Choosing to Return to the Ward

My Timeline

• 1988 (age 0): born. A difficult delivery caused shock and oxygen deprivation, damaging both kidneys — chronic glomerulonephritis and chronic kidney failure from the start
• 2014 (age 26): hemodialysis began
• 2020/12/25 (age 32): kidney transplant

It has been a long road. I knew my kidneys were weak from childhood; as a teenager I didn't take my medication; at 26 I was told at work that I needed emergency dialysis, and a glass of high-potassium orange juice sent me to hospital with pulmonary edema that same night. Then six years of hemodialysis — cramps, low blood pressure, thirst, itching, hyperparathyroidism. Everything kidney patients go through, I went through.

Then, on Christmas Day 2020, the phone rang.

If Heaven Gave Me a Second Life, There Must Be a Reason

Lying in the hospital bed after the transplant, I had only one thought: gratitude. For the donor and their family, for the medical team who had cared for me all along, and for Heaven for giving me a second chance.

I began to think: this rebirth should not be for me alone.

So I joined a private hospital as a health manager in integrative medicine, responsible for caring for patients with diabetes and kidney disease. My job is education — teaching patients how to manage their diet, adjust their lifestyle, and read their own lab reports.

What I Say Most Often on the Ward

Don't be discouraged. The road ahead is long, and it can be meaningful. Illness is not the end.

This isn't a slogan. I tell them my own story: I was on dialysis too; I cramped, I fainted, I was afraid. Now I stand here with a kidney someone gave me, living a life just like yours — working, exercising, laughing.

Why Is Everyone So Afraid of Dialysis?

Six years on dialysis plus these years of patient education taught me one thing: the fear of dialysis — hemodialysis or peritoneal — almost always comes from not understanding.

• Not knowing what dialysis actually does
• Not knowing whether you can still work, travel or exercise afterward
• Not knowing how the road ahead unfolds
• Only hearing relatives say "dialysis is agony" or "dialysis means waiting to die"

When I explain the process clearly, lay out the options, and put my own example in front of them, I see their eyes change. The fear doesn't vanish entirely, but it becomes something that can be faced.

Why This Site Exists

Beyond CKD is an extension of what I do on the ward. I want to gather accurate medical knowledge, real patient experience, and practical approaches to diet, exercise and emotional wellbeing — in language patients understand — so that more people still living in fear will know:

This road can be walked, and walked meaningfully. Face it bravely. I'm with you.

The content of this article is personal reflection and experience sharing only, and is not medical advice. For any questions about your health, illness or physical care, please seek help through professional medical channels and consult your physician.