Creating a future where no one loses a loved one to kidney disease.
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Creating a future where no one loses a loved one to kidney disease.
Supporting research in memory of Steve
Nina Nannar sadly lost her husband, Steve, to complications caused by kidney disease last year. Steve was always very positive and optimistic because he thought the research breakthroughs that were coming were amazing. They were changing people’s lives.
"Steve’s big hope would be that because of new breakthroughs in kidney research, the ending for him wouldn’t have to be the ending for other people in the future." Nina Nannar
Nina Nannar, ITV News arts editor, shares her heartbreaking story.
Steve was born with reflux – a problem with a valve in the ureter that allows urine to travel the wrong way, from the bladder back into the kidney.
In his teens, Steve collapsed, his kidney was barely functioning and had to begin dialysis treatment immediately. After three and a half years on dialysis, Steve received a kidney transplant. It lasted for 30 years. But in 2016, Steve went back onto dialysis for nearly two years before getting a second transplant.
Among the medications Steve had to take every day was an anti-rejection medication. A side effects is an increased risk of skin cancer. Every year, Steve was checked and often had moles burned off his back, in case they turned nasty.
In 2021, the lumps on Steve's back had changed. He had surgery to remove them and this time, there were cancer cells. Unfortunately, in April 2022 the family were told the devastating news that the cancer cells had spread, and Steve’s ear had to be removed the day after his 60th birthday.
Sadly, Steve passed away. Nina and their daughter Mimi were with him when he went. They played his favourite songs. It was about as gentle and as loving a farewell as you could have.
Dedicated to saving lives.
Every time you make a gift to Kidney Research UK, you help fund the work of the best and brightest kidney researchers in the UK. Here are just three of the researchers tackling kidney disease right now.
Dr Killian Donovan
In some people, kidney disease develops much faster than in others. It’s possible that this fast progression also causes heart disease. Dr Killian Donovan and his team at the University of Oxford want to find out why.
They are studying genetic data from thousands of people around the world, searching for genetic variants that might be linked to rapid kidney disease progression.
Dr Donovan hopes the results will create a future where people at the highest risk of kidney and heart disease can be identified and treated earlier.
Dr Soma Meran
Heart disease is a leading cause of death in kidney patients. But current medicines to treat heart disease often don’t work as well in people with kidney disease.
Dr Soma Meran and her team at Cardiff University believe that this might be because of the high levels of inflammation that kidney disease causes, leading to changes in the walls of arteries.
By studying the links between kidney disease and heart disease, Dr Meran hopes that her work will help identify new treatments to better protect the heart health of kidney patients and save lives.
Dr Katie Mylonas
As we age, some of the cells in our kidneys can start to produce harmful substances that lead to kidney damage. These “senescent” cells are also found in people with kidney disease.
Dr Katie Mylonas and her team at the University of Edinburgh are investigating why ageing, and kidney disease, reduce the body’s ability to remove these senescent cells, allowing the damage to continue.
She hopes that her work will help develop new treatments to remove senescent cells from the body and prevent further kidney damage.
Why your gift is important
Imagine a time when no one’s life is held back by kidney disease, and no one’s loved ones are taken early. Every day that our researchers are working on the problem, that amazing future comes a day closer.
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