PKD Life - Summer 2021 - 14

LIFE IS
MY PKD LIFE
Fifteen years after my second kidney
transplant, I'm strong and healthy.
By Steven Cojocaru, as told to Leslie Pepper * Photography by Eric Williams
I
t was mid-2004, and I was at the height of my
career. I spent my days covering celebs and
style for Entertainment Tonight and the Today
show and my nights chatting it up with Drew
and Gwyneth at A-list Hollywood cocktail parties.
Everything was landing where it should. But the
near-constant work began to take its toll. I was running
around the world and beginning to run out of
breath. I was gaunt, and my skin took on a gray pallor.
I knew in my gut that something was off .
A STUNNING DIAGNOSIS
I hadn't seen a doctor since moving to Los Angeles
a decade before, so I fi nally dragged myself in for
a checkup. I'd always ignored my blood pressure,
which had been high since my mid-20s, but this
time it was in fi re-alarm-scary zone. A few days
after the appointment, the doctor called to say that
tests revealed my kidney function was off . " Kidneys? "
I shouted into my phone. " Do I even have
kidneys? What do they do? "
After an ultrasound, I sat across from the doctor,
and suddenly everything became very serious. I
heard him say the words " polycystic kidney disease "
and that I would need a kidney transplant in the
near future. I was stunned.
When I got back to my car, I just sobbed and
sobbed. Then I soldiered on to play Cojo during the
day and sob some more when I got home at night. I
went through the seven stages of grief. I didn't know
how to break the news to my family, and I was
petrifi ed of losing the career I'd worked so hard to
achieve. I mourned, I fell apart, and I cried into my
pillow every night.
HOPE, THEN HEARTBREAK
But I had to share this with someone, and I fi nally
got up the nerve to tell my best friend, Abby. The
minute I told her I needed a kidney transplant, she
uttered the greatest six words you could ever say
to a person: " We will get through this together. "
Suddenly, I no longer felt alone. And immediately
I switched from victim and darkness to
empowered and fi ghter. I channeled all the ambition
I had in my career into the drive to get well.
Abby immediately off ered to donate her kidney.
I had no idea what to do-I mean, what's the
protocol for this? I, of course, said no, but she was
deadly serious. She had all the tests, and miraculously
she was a match.
On January 14, 2005, I had my fi rst transplant.
I say my fi rst because, heartbreakingly, my body
rejected Annabelle. (We thought nothing bad
could happen if we gave the kidney a sweet and
innocent-sounding name.) After the rejection,
I felt darker than dark. It was far worse than the
diagnosis because Annabelle was my baby. I had
loved her instantly and pampered her and nurtured
her. She was everything to me, so to lose
her was tragic.
Follow Steven
on Instagram
and Twitter
@cojooffi cial.
14 PKD LIFE * SUMMER 2021
PKD Life - Summer 2021

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