August 2025

Nearly 600,000 Americans are currently undergoing dialysis, and approximately 440,000 of them rely on phosphate-lowering therapies (PLTs) to help manage their health effectively.

Nearly 600,000 Americans are currently undergoing dialysis, and approximately 440,000 of them rely on phosphate-lowering therapies (PLTs) to help manage their health effectively.

Nearly 600,000 Americans are currently undergoing dialysis, and approximately 440,000 of them rely on phosphate-lowering therapies (PLTs) to help manage their health effectively.

By Cybele Ghossein, MD; and Andrew Vissing, MDFor the last 10 years our kidney transition program has helped hundreds of young adult kidney patients transfer care from pediatric nephrology at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital to adult nephrology care at Northwestern Medicine.Here’s how it works.

Ashley Martin doesn’t remember a time when kidney disease wasn’t part of her life. Before she could read or ride a bike, she was watching her mother battle kidney disease. Their story began even before Ashley was born, when Toni’s doctors suggested to her not to wait to have children.

Caroline Ford is mom to Burkley Ford, a fun-loving and active child. In February 2021, when Burkley was just three years old, she began showing signs that something was not right with her health.Burkley and other family members had been sick with COVID-19 the previous month, but Burkley did not seem to be fully recovering.