Maria Jimenez was 23 years old, had just graduated from community college with her associate degree and was working towards her bachelor's degree when she first noticed the symptoms. 

She was experiencing fatigue — even regular activities left her feeling tired. Then she started seeing swelling in her hands and feet. Jimenez said she would wake up with puffy eyes and shortness of breath. 

“My symptoms only showed up two weeks prior to ending up in the hospital,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez didn’t experience symptoms until she was already in stage five — the highest stage in chronic kidney disease.  

“Chronic kidney disease is a condition when your kidneys are not working as well as they should to filter out toxins and waste products and excess fluids from their body,” said Jimenez, a former chronic kidney disease patient, and now a kidney care advocate for Fresenius Kidney Care.

March is National Kidney Month, a month of awareness of chronic kidney disease.

“Sometimes, it's called a silent disease or a silent killer because by the time patients experience symptoms, they're typically late stage four or stage five, where patients will typically need either dialysis or a kidney transplant,” she said.

Before her diagnosis, Jimenez was regularly active doing sports, horseback riding, playing the acoustic guitar and involved with her church community.  

After Jimenez dropped out of college and quit her job to get used to her new routine. She underwent nine years of dialysis; three times a week for about five years of in-center hemodialysis and later transitioning to four years of home hemodialysis five days a week.

“My whole life was affected, actually changed, about family about friends. I just started to be more appreciative about the things that I did have, about the things that I could control," she said.

She underwent a kidney transplant on Halloween 2017. Her living donor was the pastor's wife at her church.

Jimenez, a Sacramento resident, now works as a Kidney Care Advocate for two Fresenius Kidney Care Stockton clinics on West March Lane and on North California Street and covers all the Sacramento area, Roseville and Reno. 

“... I became a kidney care advocate, and that is my passion. That is what I do on a day-to-day basis. I actually meet with patients to educate them about chronic kidney disease," Jimenez said. "I educate them about the different dialysis treatment options, and I am also able to share my journey with them and through that, I am hoping that I could empower them."

Those who have diabetes, high blood pressure or that have a history of chronic kidney disease in their family are the primary people that should be tested, she said.  

“It's a very simple test like a blood test and a urine test,” Jimenez said.  

A lesson she learned was that if she had done annual testing, she might have not prevented the disease but would have had early detection and could have slowed it down.  

“Sometimes, even if we think we're healthy ... I thought it was very healthy, exercising, doing sports all the time. But getting tested, you know being able to not be afraid of our doctors and trust them and be proactive about our health,” she said.

Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.