Drake Fields

As far as kidney disease goes, my first ever issue with my kidneys started in 2019. That year, we took a trip to Disneyland as a family along with a family friend. After coming home from this trip, I was extremely dehydrated for the state I was in that my creatinine shot up from under 1.0 to 1.2 or so. This sent us to the hospital to regulate my electrolytes and get my health back in shape. From this point on, I have been in and out of the hospital constantly. In May of 2023, my left kidney was removed. This decision was made because I was having constant UTI’s. So much that some were reaching my kidney and causing decline in function. This is when we realized the left kidney may have been doing nothing. This lead to the surgery of removing that kidney. Ever since my left kidney was removed, my right kidney could not hold up the pressure of running the whole system on it’s own. My creatinine jumped from the 2-3 range to 7+. At the start of this year 2025, I was seen in the hospital every month, multiple times per month for different reasons all stemming from my kidney. I stayed 1 month in the hospital from April to May. In that time, a partial cause was identified. In a biopsy, there were microscopic oxalate crystals found surrounding roughly 60% of my kidney. The function was quickly declining. At the early stages of the year, I was given the option of just calling it good and starting dialysis to give me the physical energy back that I had lost. When that option was given to me, I quickly declined and said that I wanted to try everything to stay away from dialysis. I tried foley catheters (yes, multiple) I tried a nephrostomy tube, I tried everything my doctors saw fit to try for my condition. After the nephrostomy tube had been in for a couple of days and was not working, the option became more of a warning to start dialysis. The Interventional Radiology team was already in touch, the dialysis unit downstairs was aware of my case and ready to take me in, everything moved so quick. I was never fully accepting of it. I never wanted to start dialysis because I knew the toll it took on your life. Being in a chair for multiple hours at a time while your blood was circulated through a machine, having so much trust in a small team to move that much blood at one time. It is a huge thing to me. I have been put through so many loops in the past with my other medical conditions that I didn’t know if that much trust could be held with what seemed like a small team. Here is a little bit of a deeper dive into my medical history. I was born with VACTERL syndrome. A rare disease found in 1 in 10,000 to 40,000 newborn babies. This disease has 6 different diagnoses that goes all through the body. Vertebral defects, Anal Atresia, Cardiac defects, Tracheo-Esophageal fistula, Renal abnormalities and Limb abnormalities. When babies are born with this disease, they typically have 2 or 3 of the 6 diagnoses found in them. I was born with all 6, affecting every piece of my body. At birth, I was immediately put into an ambulance and driven from Hollister, CA to San Jose, CA. From Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital to Good Samaritan Hospital. At Good Samaritan, I was rushed into surgery and had many different repairs. I stayed in the NICU for 3-4 months and was discharged right before Christmas. I have been in and out of the hospital constantly my whole entire life, originally for esophagus dilation surgeries, that then evolved into different problems with my stomach and more. There has never been a real identifying issue found with my kidney outside of the oxalate crystals, and there was never a big red flag during different parts of treatment. There were only UTIs showing and causing the kidneys to fail. There were only a few months in between feeling good and being able to run around, to losing all of that endurance and strength, being stuck in a hospital bed and on the couch at home on my computer.

While I hope to find a kidney and be put on the path back to a life as normal as possible, I also hope to be able to reach millions with my story to show how much pushing through can get you and how well you can do on the other side. I’ve always worked to be as open with my story as possible and have felt successful with every part. This will complete that hope and exceed my goals and is already making me the most thankful I’ve been.

My transplant center is Stanford- my transplant

to register to test for me is- (650) 725-9891 ,

And my birthdate if asked is  07/06/2007