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Hewitson walks as part of fight against disease
By Curtis Pulliam
Canfield
About four years ago, Amanda Hewitson got bored.
Not with life, but of doing the same old workout at the gym.
Hewitson, a pharmacist from Boardman who worked out consistently, decided to start training for a marathon.
“I was working out six, seven days a week, running 10 to 15 miles at a time,” Hewitson said. “Obviously, after I got diagnosed, you know I couldn’t do anything for a while.”
Shortly after starting her training, Hewitson, 27 at the time, experienced swelling in her legs after running. Thinking it was just from the excessive running, Hewitson keep going with her daily routine.
“I just kept pushing through,” Hewitson said, who has a doctorate degree of pharmacy from Lake Erie College of Medicine. “Then I just noticed more and more how tired I was getting, and I started getting nauseous as well. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Finally, Hewitson made a trip to the emergency room. The doctors there said she was standing too long at work and needed to “sit down” a little more.
The next day, Hewitson attempted to go to work. When she got there, she proceed to get sick again and headed for the emergency room.
“They checked my labs from the day before and it wasn’t kidney failure,” Hewitson said. “They were going to do a kidney biopsy and that’s how I was originally diagnosed.”
Hewitson was originally told she had minimal change disease, a kidney disease that is mostly found in children, according to Hewitson.
After two years of treatments, Hewitson had a remission period, However, Hewitson got sick again last May. After another eight months of failed treatment, she had a second biopsy in January.
Hewitson was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis meaning some sections of the kidney filters are scarred. More commonly known as FSGS, focal segmental glomerulosclerosisis is a chronic disease that about 5,400 are diagnosed with each year.
“Nobody in my family has any type of kidney problems,” Hewitson said. “It’s not just something that comes to mind. When most people think of kidney disease, they think of somebody with diabetes or the elderly.”
Molly Hewitson, Amanda’s younger sister, was quite surprised by the original diagnosis.
“Looking back she’s always been really a fit person,” Molly Hewitson said. “It’s surprising that we didn’t notice. But you don’t expect something like this to happen.”
Four years later, Amanda, Molly and many others walked on Amanda’s behalf in the 2014 Northeast Ohio Kidney Walk June 8. The walk is designed to raise money and awareness for all types of kidney diseases.
Amanda Hewitson, who is on medical leave from her job and working with doctors to control her disease, completed the three-mile walk in a downpour.
“This is the first year doing the walk,” Hewitson said. “We wanted to do something different (for fund-raising) so we had bracelets made and “Team Amanda” shirts as well.”
Scott Mirto, currently the manager of Select Sportswear in Austintown and owner of the Mahoning Valley Vipers of the Ohio Football League, made the shirts and had several players walk as part of Amanda’s team.
“She is just very personable,” Mirto said. “In talking to her, she just seems to be enjoying every minute of her life as she can. You would never know she has something as terrible as what she does. She’s overall a great person.”
In total, “Team Amanda” raised $3,595 and Amanda admits she is honored by the support of her friends and family.
“Luckily, I have great friends and family that have been there through everything for me,” Hewitson said. “It’s bad that I got this disease but it also helps me to see what’s important in life.”
She still hopes to run a marathon one day.
“In the future,” Hewitson said.