Raising Kidney Disease Awareness with Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin
For National Kidney Month this March, five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin is continuing a collaboration with Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (Otsuka) to raise awareness of the importance of having conversations about family health history. Missy is sharing her story of how autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, or ADPKD, has affected her own family. ADPKD is a rare genetic condition that causes cysts to form on the kidneys, eventually leading to a decline in kidney function and requiring a need for dialysis or a transplant. While ADPKD is considered a rare disease, each child of a parent with ADPKD has a 50% chance of inheriting the condition.
Missy made her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London when she was 17 and continued to swim competitively until her eventual retirement from the sport in 2018. Throughout her career and beyond, family remained a priority. Embracing the values of open communication and family connection, her journey took an unexpected turn when her father was diagnosed with ADPKD. Missy’s father was not alone – multiple relatives on his side of the family also live with ADPKD.
Over time, Missy and her family learned that her father’s disease was progressing, and he ultimately underwent a successful kidney transplant surgery. She learned the importance of disease education and early detection for those who may be affected by ADPKD or another kidney disease. Missy is passionate about encouraging open dialogue among families and being proactive about screening processes and routine doctor visits.
For more information visit www.ADPKDQuestions.com
Missy made her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London when she was 17 and continued to swim competitively until her eventual retirement from the sport in 2018. Throughout her career and beyond, family remained a priority. Embracing the values of open communication and family connection, her journey took an unexpected turn when her father was diagnosed with ADPKD. Missy’s father was not alone – multiple relatives on his side of the family also live with ADPKD.
Over time, Missy and her family learned that her father’s disease was progressing, and he ultimately underwent a successful kidney transplant surgery. She learned the importance of disease education and early detection for those who may be affected by ADPKD or another kidney disease. Missy is passionate about encouraging open dialogue among families and being proactive about screening processes and routine doctor visits.
For more information visit www.ADPKDQuestions.com
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Male Announcer>> The following portion of the Arizona Daily Mix is sponsored on behalf
00:05 of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., by KEF Media.
00:11 March is National Kidney Month, and to recognize the importance of kidney health, I talk with
00:17 Olympic gold medalist and retired pro swimmer Missy Franklin about how the kidney disease
00:22 ADPKD has affected her own family.
00:28 Good morning, Missy.
00:31 How are you doing today?
00:32 Missy Franklin>> I am so great.
00:35 Thank you so much for having me this morning.
00:37 Male Announcer>> Well, we're very happy to have you because this is a very important
00:40 topic with it being National Kidney Month, and this is something that really is important
00:46 to you and your family.
00:48 So let's talk about ADPKD and what it is and, again, how it's affected your family's life.
00:54 Missy Franklin>> Yes, so it can be a bit of a mouthful, so we shorten it to ADPKD, but
01:00 it's autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, and it's a rare genetic condition
01:05 that causes cysts to form on the kidneys that eventually leads to a decline in kidney function
01:11 and requires a need for dialysis or a transplant.
01:14 So ADPKD runs in my father's family, so in addition to my dad, some of his siblings and
01:21 my grandparents were all diagnosed with ADPKD, and I remember those early conversations with
01:27 my parents that my dad lived with a genetic kidney disease, but I don't think at the time
01:32 I fully understood what that meant.
01:33 So when my dad's health really started to decline in around 2019 due to his ADPKD, it
01:39 was definitely a hard time for my family and myself.
01:42 Male Announcer>> Yeah, wow, this is amazing because we hear about diabetes going through,
01:46 you know, fam and stuff, and something like this we really don't hear about, and that's
01:49 why you're bringing this to the forefront.
01:51 So let's talk quickly about your dad.
01:54 Is he still dealing with it, and how's he doing?
01:56 Dr. Kristin>> Yes, well, thank you so much for asking.
02:00 So we were so fortunate in that he was on the organ donor list, but those can take years,
02:06 and so we started our own search for a living kidney donor, and in August of 2022, my dad
02:12 successfully underwent transplant surgery, and it was the day of the surgery - this is
02:17 the best part of the story - that we learned that the living donor was another Olympic
02:22 gold medalist in swimming.
02:24 Her name is Chrissy Purham, and we had no idea who she was beforehand.
02:28 She didn't know us.
02:29 She was just a perfect match for my dad, and out of the goodness of her heart, donated
02:34 one of her kidneys to him, and both my father and Chrissy are doing fantastic, and Chrissy
02:39 is now a part of our family.
02:40 Male Announcer>> Wow, that is so amazing, having two gold medalists layer together in
02:44 the family in a special way, which is so great.
02:47 That's crazy.
02:48 Let's, let's talk about why this is so important for families to get checked out to talk about
02:55 this and see if they do carry this disease.
02:58 Dr. Kristin>> Yes, absolutely.
03:01 So throughout our family's journey with this, I just began to truly understand the importance
03:06 of disease education for those affected by ADPKD or another kidney or genetic disease,
03:12 so our major encouragement is just to have the conversation about family health history
03:18 with your family to see if there are any diseases like ADPKD that could potentially be there,
03:24 and then you're able to be proactive and speak and work with your doctor and healthcare providers
03:28 about different ways that you can identify those diseases, and we know those conversations
03:33 can be hard to have, but they are so important because we know that early detection can make
03:38 a big, big difference.
03:39 Male Announcer>> Yeah, very important for people to do.
03:42 Let's switch gears really quick here and talk a little about you.
03:44 I know you retired from swimming, and this is one of, again, your, your big missions
03:49 here.
03:50 What else are you up to?
03:51 Dr. Kristin>> Yes, oh my gosh, so much.
03:54 So on top of working with OTSCA, American Pharmaceutical, Inc., to bring awareness to,
03:59 to a topic as important as this, I am a mom to a two and a half year old, so she's essentially
04:04 my full-time job, but I'm also a public speaker, a motivational speaker, so I still do a lot
04:09 of appearances and engagements, which I love.
04:12 I work with several nonprofits, including the U.S. Sea Swimming Foundation and the Laurier
04:15 Sport for Good, and I just started a podcast called Unfiltered Waters with my fellow Olympic
04:20 teammate Katie Hoff, and we're including conversations and having guests that are Olympians and Paralympians
04:26 that are sharing their stories and their journeys with us.
04:29 Male Announcer>> Oh man, that is so great.
04:31 Do you ever get out here to Arizona since, you know, we have some guy, I think he, he's
04:35 got a couple of medals.
04:36 I think his name's Michael.
04:38 I think something like that.
04:39 I don't know if you know that swimmer guy.
04:41 Katie>> Kind of swimmer?
04:42 Male Announcer>> Yeah.
04:43 Katie>> We're actually dying to.
04:46 It's been amazing.
04:47 Of course, we've kept up with everything that Coach Bob Bowman is doing over there at ASU
04:52 and the amazing athletes that are there training right now, and we've had several of them on
04:57 the podcast, which is so fun, but I think we're going to have to make a journey out
05:00 there in person to visit your beautiful state and to get all the amazing athletes you have
05:04 out there on our show.
05:05 Male Announcer>> I love it.
05:06 We love to have you on here, not just talking about, of course, swimming, but talking about
05:09 this great journey you and your family has been sharing with people to get checked out,
05:14 especially for this type of kidney disease.
05:16 So Missy, we thank you for joining us this morning.
05:19 Katie>> Absolutely.
05:20 And for anyone listening, you can go to adpkdquestions.com to learn more.
05:26 Thank you so much for your time.
05:28 Male Announcer>> Thank you, Missy.
05:30 Katie>> Absolutely.
05:31 Thanks so much.
05:33 Male Announcer>> The preceding portion of the Arizona Daily Mix was sponsored on behalf
05:38 of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., by KEF Media.
05:42 [End of Audio]
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