In health news, March is National Kidney Month. Recognizing the importance of kidney health, five-time Olympic gold medalist and retired professional swimmer Missy Franklin recently spoke with Scott Brocato, and shared the story of how her own family has been affected by Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, or ADPKD – including her father.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Missy, before we talk about how your father is dealing with it or has dealt with it, can you tell us what ADPKD is?
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Yes, absolutely. So it is a mouthful, I will warn you. But it is Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. It's the most common form of polycystic kidney disease, or PKD. And it's a rare genetic condition that causes cysts to form on the kidneys, which eventually leads to a decline in kidney function and then requires a need for either dialysis or a new kidney.
SCOTT BROCATO:
When did your father receive his diagnosis and what were some of the symptoms?
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Yes. So ADPKD is hereditary, it runs in my father's family. So in addition to my dad, some of his siblings as well as one of my grandparents were all diagnosed with ADPKD.
For my dad, it was an early diagnosis, since we knew that one of my grandparents had it. We knew that we needed to look out for that early on. And at the time, I don't really think I knew what it meant. I was still quite young. And then it was around 2019 that his health really started to decline. And that was very hard to watch for myself and for my mother, who is his primary caregiver. And in 2022, we learned that it was rapidly progressing, and had the harsh realization that his kidneys were failing, and he was going to either need dialysis or a new kidney. So his symptoms in particular was excessive fatigue. He was so tired, he really couldn't do much of what he used to before, and his quality of life really started to decline, which as I mentioned was just so hard to watch.
SCOTT BROCATO:
He ultimately underwent a successful kidney transplant, did he not? And how is he doing?
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Yes, he did. So in August 2022--thank you for asking--he did undergo a successful transplant surgery. He was on the kidney organ donation transplant list. But those lists can sometimes take upwards of three to five years to get a kidney. And so we started looking for our own living kidney donor.
And it was only after the surgery that we learned that the living donor was another Olympic gold medalist in swimming. Her name is Chrissy Perham, and both her and my dad are doing fantastic. And Chrissy is now part of our family.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, what are some of the things that you've learned after watching your father go through this particular disease? And don't you have a 50% chance yourself of possibly...?
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Yes, learning for me is understanding the importance of disease education, and understanding the hereditary nature of it. So as you mentioned, every child of a parent with a PKD has a 50% chance of getting it as well. So it's really inspired me to be conscious about being an advocate for my own health. So I work with my doctors and neurologists to carefully monitor my kidneys and overall well-being now, and part of what I do with Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc is bring awareness to the importance of family health history conversation. So if you know that your family has a history of ADPKD or other kidney or genetic diseases, sitting down and opening that communication about the health history,so that families are able to stay proactive and work with your doctors and healthcare professionals about different ways to identify and move forward.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Besides working with your dad through this disease and helping him through this, what have you been doing since you officially retired in 2018 from professional swimming?
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Yes. So I definitely have stayed busy. So I competed in the ‘12 and 2016 Olympics, and retired in 2018 due to injury, and since then it's been a whirlwind. But it's been amazing. So I do a lot of professional and motivational speaking. I work with nonprofits, including the USA Swimming Foundation and the Laureus Support for Good Foundation; and I've also recently started my own podcast called Unfiltered Waters with my co-host Katie Hoff, who's a fellow Olympic swimmer. And I've also just really been able to focus on my family. I have an amazing husband and a 2 1/2 year old daughter who's the light of our lives. And of course my parents. And so they're always going to be my number one priority.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Missy Franklin, five-time Olympic gold medalist thank you so much for joining us on KRWG Public Media to discuss this.
MISSY FRANKLIN:
Of course, and if anyone wants to learn more, they can go to adpkdquestions.com.Thank you so much for having me.
