Hey Crew- Elise here.
Last year I realized it was time to share my story. It was time to find strength in vulnerability.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, in short two years ago I found out (by accident) that I have Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), an incurable kidney disease causing uncontrolled growth of cysts in the kidney eventually leading to kidney failure. There are two forms of PKD: ADPKD and ARPKD. ADPKD (which is my expression) affects more than 600,000 Americans and 12.4 million people worldwide. ARPKD is a rare form of the disease that occurs in 1 in 20,000 children worldwide.
If you want to learn more about my initial reaction and my story I shared with our community, you can read the blog post here.
That was last March and all 3 studios at the time rallied and rowed together to raise money to find a cure for PKD. At the time I didn’t think the cause could be more important to my family and I, but of course life threw us another curve ball.
This past November I was 6.5 months pregnant when I lost my baby to PKD. It was hands down the most mentally and physically painful experiences I’ve ever been through. It is one thing when a disease affects you, but its at a completely different level when it affects your baby… and there is nothing you can do. The helpless feeling stays with me.
Losing is a child is devastating. I felt even worse since it was disease that I had a part in passing on. I couldn’t stay sad and angry forever though. I decided that once again I needed to use this experience to be open for those who have had similar losses during pregnancy but also as a way to raise more awareness for PKD – a disease that gets very little attention and still has no cure. It is my mission.
So that’s what I plan on doing with the help of this awesome and supportive community. I want to raise awareness and funds with the hope that someday the story for someone else won’t end the same way it did for Baby C.
We will be hosting our 2nd annual 10k row relay fundraisers on Sunday March 22nd to raise money for the PKD Foundation. 3 people will be on a team, $60 for each team to enter. We will be hosting this relay in all 5 studios: Wakefield, Southie, Amesbury, Beverly and Arlington. This is a cause that is clearly close to my heart and it would mean so much to be able to give back. To kick things up a notch this year the STUDIO that raises the most money will get to shop at the Reebok headquarter store from 3/28 to 4/4 for 50% off the entire store! If you are interested in organizing a team or being part of one, please email the following to join:
WAKEFIELD- Carly@sweatfixx.com
ARLINGTON- Elise@sweatfixx.com
AMESBURY/BEVERLY- Michelle@sweatfixx.com
SOUTHIE- Danielle@sweatfixx.com
For more information on PKD and the PDK Foundation you can head to PKDCURE.Org. https://pkdcure.org/