Moorhead Man Uses Illness To Raise Awareness About Chronic Kidney Disease
He says he wants to use his battle to help inspire others and raise awareness about a disease he says can sneak on people as they may not even realize they have the disease.
MOORHEAD, Minn. — “I lost purpose, I mean I couldn’t work anymore, I couldn’t support my family anymore,” FM Kidney Warriors Founder, Chris Brown said.
Chris Brown of Moorhead has a terminal Chronic Kidney Disease or CKD, Brown does his dialysis at home and says the situation he’s in could have been avoided.
“I had some signs of kidney problems and I never listened too him so he told me 10 years this is what you could be facing and I didn’t listen,” Brown said.
He says the disease he battles daily is an isolator because it changes every aspect of your life.
“You become a fighter, you have to fight every day to get out of bed, you have to fight every day to just get up and live life because there are days that you don’t want to live anymore,” Brown said.
That’s why Brown created the FM Kidney Warriors. It’s a Facebook group he’s looking to expand to help create a community of people who can share their battles.Brown also spends time one on one with other patients with CKD.
“I talk to others and they hear from somebody that’s lived it, made it through it and surviving through it, it makes all the differences in the world,” Brown said.
Brown has to spend over two hours hooked up to a dialysis machine that he has set up in the downstairs of his house.
In the room he has clusters of medical boxes full of equipment, photos of family and biblical books that he says helps him push.
“I wouldn’t be here without it, because talking about God some people don’t believe in it but for me the only reason I’m still here is because of my faith in God,” Brown said.
He says he wants to use his battle to help inspire others and raise awareness about a disease he says can sneak on people as they may not even realize they have the disease.
“My wife always says this is a hopeless disease. It is kind of in a way, but for me, this is going to sound really weird but it has given me strength that I never thought I have had before,” Brown said.
