2024 Strut Warrior
Meet our 2024 Strut Warrior
~ELI CRANDALL~
Hi! My name is Eli and I have 1 working kidney and Stage 3A chronic kidney disease. I am pre-transplant and pre-dialysis. My kidney story starts before I was even born. My mom’s doctors noticed some abnormal things throughout my Urinary System at my 20-week anatomy ultrasound scan and then she got to see me every week on ultrasound until I was born.
I spent 4 weeks in the hospital after I was born waiting for my kidneys to wake up and see what help they would need. My kidneys don’t retain the water I need to stay hydrated so I ended up leaving the hospital with a NG tube to help provide me with fluid and nutrition. My doctors compare my fluid goals to a grown adult having to drink 1 gallon of water every 3 hours. It’s a lot for me so I get help from my tube. I had surgery to place a more permanent G-tube when I was 6 months old and still use it everyday. One of the things you’ll notice about me is that I wear a backpack that carries my feeding pump and feeding bag so I can do all of the fun things while being fed by my tube.
I’ve been receiving care at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital since the day after I moved to Oregon at 3 months old. I get regular labs and check-ups with pediatric nephrology to track my kidney function and adjust my medications and nutritional plan. The pediatric urology doctors at Doernbecher figured out that although I was born with 2 kidneys, only one was functioning. The non-functioning one has now disappeared!
My family and I were invited to NW Kidney Kids Family camp 5 years ago. I love family camp because I get to do a lot of fun things with kids like me. My parents love camp because they get to talk to kidney parents who have gone through things like their kid on dialysis or getting a transplant and can offer love and support when my time comes for those things to come.
When I'm not at Kidney Family Camp, I like to mini golf, play the violin, build Legos, and play with my friends. I like to wear my kidney camp t-shirts and Strut your Kidney t-shirts all the time because they're awesome and I'm proud to be a Kidney Kid. I'm excited to be the Strut Warrior this Year and countdown to start the race!
