Nicolas Palacios got the bad news on his daughter’s first birthday in July 2020. Palacios, who was 28 years old at the time, had lost his job a couple weeks earlier and was dealing with severe fatigue, which his doctor had called to tell him was in fact a symptom of Stage 4 kidney disease. Palacios was on the cusp of kidney failure. “It was the worst day of my life,” Palacios says.

Being on the verge of kidney failure means facing a future with two options: going on dialysis for the rest of your life or getting a transplant, for which the waiting lists can take years. Meanwhile, you remain at an extremely high risk of dying from heart attack or stroke .

Palacios eventually was put on medications that stopped the rapid decline of his kidney disease, clawing him back from the ver

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