What does it really mean to live with kidney disease—not only as a patient, but as a couple?

In this episode of **Kidney Talkies**, I speak with **Christina and Michael Gilchrist**, the patient-and-caregiver team behind **Living on Dialysis**.

Christina learned she had kidney disease at just **12 years old**, experienced kidney failure at **22**, and after years without a clear diagnosis was eventually diagnosed with **C3 glomerulopathy (C3G)**.

But this conversation is about much more than a diagnosis.

Christina and Michael share the realities of navigating dialysis, serious health complications, caregiving, relationships, advocacy, and finding ways to continue truly living while kidney disease remains part of everyday life.

We talk about:

• Christina’s kidney disease journey from childhood to kidney failure  
• Her eventual C3G diagnosis  
• Michael’s experience becoming a caregiver and advocate  
• The realities of living with dialysis  
• Their *Living on Dialysis* support community  
• Advocating in Washington, D.C. multiple times  
• Receiving the *2025 AAKP Kidney Support Group of the Year* recognition  
• Speaking with kidney professionals at the ANNA conference  
• What patients and caregivers wish healthcare professionals understood  
• Christina’s experience with vision loss and why her retired service dog, **Moose**, became such an important part of her journey  
• How nocturnal dialysis has changed aspects of their everyday life  
• Their advice for people beginning the kidney disease and caregiving journey

Most importantly, we talk about what it means to build a life around kidney disease without allowing kidney disease to become your entire identity.

Thank you, Christina and Michael, for sharing both sides of this journey so openly and for everything you continue to do for the kidney community.

If you are a kidney patient, caregiver, dialysis patient, family member, or advocate, I hope this conversation reminds you that you are not navigating this journey alone.

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