Our Story

Nick's Story

In 2006, at the age of three, our son Nick was diagnosed with Minimal Change Disease – Nephrotic Syndrome (MCNS). Some children experience one “episode” of NS, are treated with Prednisone, and are fortunate to never relapse again. This was not the case with Nick. As soon as he was tapered off of Prednisone he would soon after have another relapse. Over the course of the first three years, Nick spent much of his life on Prednisone, as well as some other medications, in an effort to keep his kidneys functioning properly, and to prevent permanent damage to his kidneys. For those of you unfamiliar with Prednisone, it’s a miracle drug for many reasons, but prolonged use has severe side effects that are both short term and long term. Weight gain, significant mood swings, brittle bones, moon face, and cataracts to name a few.

In July 2009, we, along with our doc