Our story began in 2010 when Nicki found out that her kidneys were failing. This led to her starting peritoneal Dialysis in 2014, and an eventual live donor kidney transplant from her brother, Drew.
During this journey, Nicki experienced first-hand how difficult, (and expensive!) it is to access equitable kidney care when living in a regional area. The long stays in Sydney to for post-transplant care, travel to and from, medications that were not yet on the PBS. All while unable to work full-time due to her health.
Something needed to change. Nicki started with a kidney support group in Armidale, NSW. Where she was able to connect with her local kidney community, including people with kidney disease, their families, and medical supports. This then evolved into fundraising with Ramblin' for Renal, where Nicki raised $25,000 for her local renal unit and research. And the beginning of the Norm Bourke Bag, where we started giving supplies for people starting home dialysis locally.
Rural Kidney Australia was formed in 2020 when Nicki and her community wanted to formalise existing supports and grow to support more people with Kidney Disease.
Today we have grown to support all home peritoneal dialysis patients in NSW through the Norm Bourke Bag. We continue to work towards supporting equitable dialysis care for Australians, no matter where they live by embedding supports for all NSW hospitals and expanding to hospitals outside of NSW.
