Kidney Coach: One that educates, motivates, and inspires those that have kidney diesis. They share there experiences and lessons that they have learned along the way, so patients can not only live but to thrive another day.
Anthony e reed
In today world there are many coaches. We have sports coaches, business coaches, food coaches, financial coaches, health coaches and many more. There is coach for almost anything in life. In this post I want to talk about a special kind of coaches.
Being a dialysis patient was definitely a challenge and when I first started many times it felt as though I was all alone, and no one could understand what I was facing. It was during these times that I met some wonderful people I call kidney coaches. These coaches did not have a vast amount of medical knowledge but what they had was just as important, they had their experience. Many times as I would sit in the chair, and watch as patients came in the clinic to start treatment or they were leaving. During this time there was a few people that would stop and talk and encourage me to keep pressing on. Not only would they encourage but also they would share their experience with me or help me to have a better mindset, and point me to those things that were positive.
To have these coaches work with me when I first started was amazing. I think many times if they had not been there when I started the words give up would have been in my vocabulary and my mind, The value they brought not only to me but to the other patients and the clinic was priceless . You may ask why? You have the whole medical care team to help you? Why were they valuable?
There were many lessons that they taught me but here are the two that stick out in my mind. One taught me to be content where I was at (dialysis) but yet they would encourage me to keep striving for greater things (transplant). The other showed me how to be thankful for every day no matter how challenging it was, and both of them brought out the positive in the situation that we were all in. We were still upright and giving kidney disease a run for its money.
It was the kidney coaches that showed me what I could be and what to strive for, not only as a patient but as a person as well. They walked the talk about what it was like to be a successful dialysis patient. Just as a sports coach will celebrate the teams wins, so did the kidney coaches. In fact, they were some of the biggest cheerleader’s you have ever seen. When I think of a kidney coach, I think of someone that is willing to educate, motivate, and inspire and one that would encourage me to climb higher. They shared their experiences along the way so that I could live, and thrive another day.
Now what about you? Do you have a someone that has coached you? If you have, give them a shout out today. Let them know that you appreciate what they have done and how valuable they truly are.
Check back next week to read about the next exciting part of my journey. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any new and exciting content from the Kidney Trails team.
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