What Kidney Failure Taught Me About Life by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What kidney failure taught Ronald Kasyoka about life

Ronald Kasyoka is a Kenyan kidney health advocate, author of the book Unbroken: Turning Pain to Purpose, and founder of RKF Kidney Health and NephroCare, supporting dialysis patients and their caregivers across East Africa.

How it started

• Before his kidney failure in 2019, he lived with nephrotic syndrome and was on continuous medication, not realizing it would progress. His face began swelling, his body grew weak, ordinary tasks became hard, he vomited often, and his appetite disappeared. Hospital tests confirmed kidney failure while he was still in school.
• He was placed on dialysis twice a week, treatment that does the work the kidneys can no longer do, clearing toxins and excess fluid that were causing the swelling in his face and legs.

The cost of survival

• Each dialysis session costs about 10,650 Kenyan shillings. Kenya's national insurance covers two sessions a week, but the medically recommended standard is three, so many patients pay the third session out of pocket.
• Monthly medication for hypertension and related supplements costs over 13,000 shillings, not covered by insurance, on top of consultation fees and emergencies.
• Because dialysis affects the kidneys' role in bone calcium, he suffered three fractures, hip, near the ankle, and near the toes, within two years, and spent close to two years on crutches.

The lesson pain taught him

Going through this at a young age taught him not to take for granted the small, easy moments of life, the kind of ease that lets children run and play in a field. He has missed much of that normal life. But the pain also taught him compassion, sometimes God takes a person through a difficulty in order to use them to help others going through the same thing. Speaking to fellow patients now, he speaks as someone who has lived it, not just studied it.

The dark season

• The first two years after diagnosis were the hardest. He fell into depression, questioning why this had happened to him so young, before he had accomplished his dreams. He isolated himself, staying locked in the house, leaving only for treatment, and even stopped going to church, feeling like an outcast because he believed no one understood.
• He began writing what became his book during that season, documenting his private thoughts and prayers through sleepless nights, since the dialysis cycle itself disrupts sleep as toxin levels rise and fall in his body.
• In excerpts he read aloud, he described lying awake unable to dream, hiding his pain behind a brave face, and holding onto hope that things would one day get better.
• A high school teacher noticed something was wrong and told him that while the world around him might not understand what he was going through, he was the one responsible for speaking up and helping people close to him understand, so they could know how to love and support him. That conversation helped pull him out of isolation.

Living with restriction

Ordinary things most people take for granted are restricted: fluid intake capped near one litre a day, careful limits on tea, coffee and milk, no soft drinks, and travel that requires arranging a dialysis center at the destination in advance, as he does yearly for a conference in Mombasa. Dialysis itself is only management, not a cure, it lowers toxins to a safer level rather than removing them completely, the way healthy kidneys would every minute of every day.

Turning the pain into purpose

Most patients diagnosed with kidney failure or other chronic illness tend to lose hope. That realization birthed his advocacy work, showing patients that no matter what they're going through, they can still live and keep pushing forward, trusting God. The more he pours into others, the more strength he finds to keep going himself.

His organization runs:

• A non-profit offering psychosocial support to dialysis patients and caregivers, with a focus on children with kidney disease.
• An annual lecture series bringing together patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, policymakers and community members to discuss kidney health.
• The country's first Kidney Advocacy Awards, honoring advocates who serve out of personal conviction.
• A new quarterly Kidney Magazine connecting dialysis centers, renal units, doctors and patient groups.
• A digital platform, Renami (Latin for "kidney friend"), launching soon to send medication reminders, connect patients to doctors and counselors, and support nutrition needs.
• A long-term vision for a kidney transplant center and research facility, and a "kidney walk" program to fund free transplants for children with kidney failure.

The need

A kidney transplant costs around 1.9 million Kenyan shillings in a public facility, or 2.5 million privately, plus ongoing immunosuppressant medication afterward. His father has offered to be the donor. Seven years of twice-weekly dialysis, and the toll it has taken on his family's business and finances, could be resolved by that transplant. Apostle Femi Lazarus committed to raising the 1.9 million shillings needed within the following week, saying, "You are the church. We can keep managing ourselves, so we're going to prioritize this."

Refusing to play the victim

A mentor taught him early not to present himself as someone to be pitied. To truly become an inspiration, he learned he has to stay courageous and keep doing the things he wants to do despite the challenges, so that people are inspired not by what he is going through, but by what he has been able to achieve in spite of it.