Since I was a young girl, my mom, Mahboubeh Nayeri, lived with kidney failure. It was a challenge, but she was resilient and championed through many struggles. In 2005, when I was in elementary school my mom was fortunate enough to receive a kidney transplant. Even though life with a transplant was better than being on dialysis, she was never 100% after her transplant and always seemed to be in and out of the hospital.

It is a personal goal of mine to run the six world major marathons. Entrance to many of the events is through a lottery system, so when I got into the Chicago marathon in 2022, my mom was the first person I told. Sadly, my mom passed away in April of that year due to complications of covid-19 and being immunocompromised from her transplant. When I ran the marathon in October, I did it in my mom’s honour. 

I remember my mom would always talk about The Kidney Foundation, so when I decided to raise funds in advance of running the 2023 Berlin marathon this year, fundraising for The Kidney Foundation seemed like a natural decision. I am grateful that my mom had the transplant in 2005; without research and better treatment options supported by The Kidney Foundation, I would have lost her a long time ago. 

The staff at the Foundation was extremely helpful and setting up my online fundraising page was super easy. I appreciated all their guidance and managed to raise over $2,100 in just six weeks by sharing it on my socials and with my co-workers and friends. 

I definitely see myself doing this again. Kidney disease isn’t really talked about much, but I enjoyed being a voice and was surprised to learn about how many other people it affects. Running the Berlin marathon wasn’t about me, it served a much bigger purpose. I did it for my mom.