LEARN
​​Chronic Kidney Disease
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease their ability to keep you healthy by doing the jobs listed. If kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to high levels in your blood and make you feel sick. You may develop complications like high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage. Also, kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Chronic kidney disease may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.​
​​​​Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) - Stages 1-5 and Information
Source: Dallas Nephrology Associates (2025)
​​Urinary Tract Disease
A UTI is caused by bacteria getting into the urinary tract and multiplying. The effects are redness, swelling, and pain in the urinary tract. Most UTI's stay in the bladder, but if the bacteria travels up to the kidney's it can cause pyelonephritis. About 80-90 percent of UTI's are caused by more than one type of bacteria, the most common being E-coli. Men are also susceptible to UTI's as well. UTI's are responsible for nearly 10 million doctor visits a year, and can be effectively treated with antibiotics.​​​​
Organ Donation & Living Donations
The kidney is the most commonly transplanted organ from a living donor. One entire kidney is removed and transplanted.
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Many people who need transplants of organs and tissues cannot get them because of a shortage of donations. Every month, more than 2,000 new names are added to the national waiting list for organ transplants. About 20 people die every day while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ such as a kidney, heart or liver.​ With living donation, a living person donates an organ or part of an organ for transplantation. Most living donors donate one of their kidneys or a part of their liver. Much more rarely, living donors may donate other organs. Living organ donors make thousands of transplants possible every year.
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Who can be a living donor?
Living donors should be:
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in good overall physical and mental health and
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older than 18 years of age.
Medical conditions such as uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, certain infections, or an uncontrolled psychiatric condition, could prevent you from being a living donor.
Want to learn more about becoming a living donor?
Visit Donate Life to learn and register.
