Renton woman gets trip to star-studded renal prom

Published 10:45 am Friday, January 24, 2014

One young Renton mom was treated to a break from the rigors of her kidney disease to attend the 15th annual Renal Teen Prom in Southern California.

Chelsea Brazier, 22, was chosen to attend the special prom for young dialysis patients last weekend. Northwest Kidney Centers, where Brazier receives treatment, funded her trip.

It was a night of glamour and excitement put on by the Renal Support Network, based in Glendale, Calif. There were make-up and picture stations for prom attendees, dancing, food and celebrities.

This year actor Quinton Aaron of “The Blind Side” attended the event with Jack Black and Kyle Gass, of Tenacious D; Phillip Palmer, of ABC News; Josh Emerson, of NCIS; Nicholas Gonzalez, of Sleepy Hollow and stunt actor Erik Aude among other stars at the event.

“The fun was getting dressed up and getting to feel like my kidney disease doesn’t stop me from having a good time,” said Brazier this week. “I should be able to have a life like this that is what this did. It showed me that I can have a life and be sick at the same time.”

With her cousin Leanna Davis in tow, Brazier mingled with other dialysis patients and celebrities and mugged for cameras.

Brazier was diagnosed with kidney disease five years ago and must receive dialysis treatments until she gets a kidney transplant. Brazier spends four hours every other day getting dialysis, so the trip to California was a fun, nice and a great experience, she said.

“For American adults, the incidence of kidney disease is 1 in 7 people,” said Linda Sellers, in an email.

Sellers is a spokesperson for Northwest Kidney Centers, which has a location in Renton.

“Many of them don’t know it because kidney disease may not have obvious symptoms until the damage is severe and permanent,” Sellers said.

Brazier suffered kidney failure three years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter Tatum. She did make it to her own freshmen and junior prom in high school, but wanted to attend this prom because it sounded incredible, she said.

Many of the teens attending the event miss out on events like prom because of their treatment regimen.

“I got to meet new people and realize that there are other people who are going through the same thing I’m going through,” Brazier said.

The Renal Support Network is a partner with Northwest Kidney Centers. The center has sponsored a patient to attend the prom three times in the past five years.

“It’s an opportunity to support a partner organization and shed some public light on the epidemic of chronic kidney disease, up 30 percent in the last 10 years,” said Sellers. “People whose kidney disease has advanced to kidney failure—as Chelsea’s disease did—have a very limited life expectancy unless they get dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant. With one of those treatments, life expectancy for a person with kidney failure can be many, many more years.”

The Renal Teen Prom is held every year for those age 14 to 24, who have kidney disease.

For more information visit, http://www.rsnhope.org/renal-teen-prom/.