Katie German

Katie was diagnosed before birth in April 2005, with a Multicystic Dyspastic Kidney which left her with some renal impairment.

You can only imagine the concern this must have caused Katie’s’ family, once this condition was discovered in their awaited baby. Katie needed medication for a while after she was born, and has since had many checks and investigations to check the severity of her condition.

She has ultrasound scans to check the health status of her kidneys every six months and sees a paediatrician once each year. The last scan showed approximately 20 cysts on Katie’s left kidney. The largest of these cysts is one centimetre across and it still appears to be growing. Katie’s’ healthy right kidney is bigger than it should be for a child her age as it is having to work twice as hard to compensate for the cystic kidney. At the moment, Katie is not on any medication, although the cystic kidney may need to be removed at some time in the future. Katie’s mum worries about the possibility of urine infections: so Katie goes to her doctor or A&E immediately if there are symptoms. This helps avoid problems or harm to Katie’s healthy right kidney, so reducing the possibility that dialysis or a transplant will be needed in the future.

Katie’s family are enthusiastic fundraisers for Kidney Research UK. Katie’s mum Sarah ran the 2006 London Marathon for us and Katie’s Dad Ben in (March this year) completed the Adidas Half Marathon at Silverstone. In January 2007 Katie’s grandmother held a ‘Las Vegas’ themed 60th birthday party, again to raise funds for our cause. Sarah has also given interviews to BBC Radio Northampton about her fundraising for Kidney Research UK as well as to Asda magazine for a Mothers’ Day feature.

At the time of writing Katie is almost three years old and is growing into a gorgeous and determined little girl. Katie looks so healthy that you would never know that anything was wrong with her, or that her current and future kidney health continues to give so many concerns.