Dialysis, isolation, depression, anger. Each of these words has a separate meaning but they seem to go hand-in-hand with each other. For many dialysis patients, these words combine to form a “new normal” state brought on by living with kidney failure. READ MORE >>

What are the most important things you need to know about kidney disease? Our infographic breaks it down into five quick facts. READ MORE >>

A diagnosis of kidney disease often comes as a shock, but you don’t have to face it alone. Our Facebook community includes thousands of people who are living with kidney disease or kidney failure. We recently asked what advice they would give someone who is newly diagnosed. READ MORE >>

Julie Lippke and her daughter Alexandra, an eighth-grader, are taking on the challenge of hiking Hadrian’s Wall in northern England during Alexandra’s spring break this month. They are doing it to test their own limits—and to honor Alexandra’s grandfather Jerry Lippke, who has been living with kidney failure for over five years. READ MORE >>

Anytime we hear about someone who suffers from a chronic disease, it’s easy to use the disease as a label to describe the person: “There's so and so, she has cancer,” or “He’s a diabetic.” Everyone is guilty of doing this at one time or another, and I have noticed that many doctors unknowingly make this mistake, too. READ MORE >>

Whenever the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Komets professional hockey team took to the ice in December, they played to win—both to improve their standing in the ECHL league and to raise money to help kidney patients across the country. READ MORE >>

In the United States, chronic kidney disease affects racial and ethnic minority populations including American Indians, African-Americans, and Hispanic Americans at higher rates than whites. In North Carolina, health disparities are even greater in the southeastern counties where the rates of kidney disease are among the highest in the country. READ MORE >>

Each November we salute family caregivers, who dedicate countless hours providing care to their loved ones. We recently asked our Facebook audience to share one secret about being a caregiver. This infographic highlights some of their responses. READ MORE >>

A team of scientists, engineers and clinicians from across the United States is collaborating on a fast-track development to create an implantable kidney the size of a coffee cup to treat end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which affects more than 600,000 people in the United States. READ MORE >>

I found out I had high blood pressure when I was in college. I knew it was serious, and I knew I needed to take medication to control it. But the prescription medication was expensive, and I couldn’t really afford it, so I stopped taking it. I guess I was in denial . . . for more than 10 years. But my life was pretty normal and most of the time I felt OK. Until 2008. READ MORE >>

A simple question—“What do you wish others understood about living with kidney disease?”—unleashed a torrent of comments on our Facebook page recently. Kidney disease itself is often invisible until the late stages; once it progresses to kidney failure, patients need dialysis or a transplant to live. People living with kidney disease and kidney failure tell us they often feel that others do not understand what they are going through, both physically and emotionally. READ MORE >>

In recognition of November as National Family Caregivers Month, Kidney Today sat down with Keith McDonald, AKF’s 2014 Caregiver of the Year, to learn about his experience as the primary caregiver for his wife, Rameika, who is living with kidney disease and undergoes dialysis three times a week. READ MORE >>