Destiny Bergeron, 23, awaits a life-saving kidney transplant while enduring 11 hours daily on dialysis due to stage 5 kidney disease.
VIDOR, Texas — For three years, 23-year-old Destiny Bergeron has been waiting for a kidney transplant that could save her life. Diagnosed with stage 5 kidney disease as a teenager, she now spends 11 hours each day hooked up to a home dialysis machine.
“It’s not really easy to ask people to give up an organ because that’s crazy,” Bergeron said. “I am young, so it doesn’t make sense for me to have stage 5 kidney disease.”
Bergeron first realized something was wrong when she was 20 and working at Walmart. “I was feeling really, really bad. I had the worst headache ever, and I remember checking out a customer and I couldn’t see them. It was like black dots everywhere,” she recalled. That health scare led to her diagnosis, which has since forced her to undergo eye surgeries and cope with exhaustion in addition to long hours of dialysis.
Her mother, Dawn Meineke, has been her greatest source of strength. “My mom is my best friend,” Bergeron said. “Like I’ve heard other 20-year-olds, like there’s just a time where it clicks and you’re like, my mom’s actually the greatest person in the world.”
Meineke said watching her daughter struggle has been heartbreaking. “It’s hard to watch your kid suffer and not be able to help, do anything to fix it. Because that’s what parents are supposed to do,” she said.
Unable to donate her own kidney, Meineke turned to social media to raise awareness. “Maybe we’ll get one person. I didn’t expect it to blow up like it did,” she said. More than 20 people have since signed up to be possible organ donors, and the family is now waiting to hear if any are a match.
“I wish she could have a normal life like everyone else,” Meineke said. “She can’t even have a full-time job… there’s just so many things she can’t do.”
Bergeron admits the journey is often overwhelming, but she relies on her support system to keep going. “I think I would just let my body take its course if I didn’t have my mom and like the support system that I have,” she said.
Bergeron remains on the transplant list, holding out hope for the call that could change her future.
More information about how you can become a donor can be found here.