Mahwah Teen Leads Personal, Community Fight Against Kidney Disease

When Alli Young first started feeling fatigued during her freshman year at Mahwah High School two years ago, she didn’t think it was being caused by a serious issue.

“I was always tired. At home, my blood pressure seemed OK, but at the doctor’s officie it was elevated, so they thought I had White Coat Syndrome, which is basically just a fear of doctor’s offices,” she explained.

However, when the problem persisted, visits to NY hospitals and blood tests eventually revealed that Alli had Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, of FSGS, a rare kidney disease that affects the filtration systems in both of her kidneys.

“At first, I was really upset about it,” she told Patch of her diagnosis.

“It’s a life-changing thing. My parents were scared, and I really didn’t know what to do.”

Over the past two years, Alli missed several weeks of school at a time trying to deal with and treat the disease.

This year, a combination of medication and dietary changes has slowed the progression of her disease, and allowed her to feel much better on a daily basis, she said.

Her new healthy lifestyle has also led to a healthier outlook on dealing with her disease, an outlook she has started to share with others.

“I decided that I can’t just sit home and be a sick kid and be negative,” she said.

Alli is a volunteer with the National Kidney Foundation and serves as a mentor to other children who have kidney disease in the tri-state area.

“I really like helping out younger kids and their parents going through this,” she said. “If I can put a smile on a kid’s face, that’s a great thing.”

As a volunteer, she runs the organization’s ‘Kids for Kidneys’ program, and will be participating in the NYC Kidney Walk Sunday.

In two years of participating, Alli has raised over $10,000 for the Foundation.

“You can’t tell from the outside that I have kidney disease,” she said.

“That’s why I think it’s important for people to be more educated about it. You never know what people are going through.”

In addition to spreading awareness, the money raised at the walk will fund research, she said.

“I want to help the other 26 million Americans with Kidney Disease to find a cure, too,” she said.

She is still collecting donations for Sunday’s walk. Check out Alli’s fundraising page here.