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It was the beginning of my medical school training, the summer of 1969. In addition to classes, I volunteered as an aide at the Children’s Hospital. Each day for several weeks we cared for Floyd, an adorable 4-year-old child with Bright’s Disease, now called end-stage kidney disease, and known to all as a terminal condition. Floyd was wasted, weak, and frail. But when we came on the ward, he was so happy to see us that his smile went from ear to ear. Each day, however, he grew weaker, dying of a disease that had a therapy, but sadly not for him. Floyd was not eligible for dialysis – he was too young to qualify and had no insurance. He grew pale and feeble despite regular blood transfusions. At the end of his life, his arms and legs were like toothpicks. He died in the arms of his anguished mother and grief-stricken father. I will never be able to forget the excruciating pain and anguish I shared with his parents, both mentally and physically; I felt powerless. It was at that moment that I resolved I would devote my career to helping kidney patients. Around the time Floyd died, a group of Brooklyn dialysis patients convened to start a newsletter. The National Association of Patients on Hemodialysis was born to network patients from around the country, help share the burgeoning knowledge about this new lifesaving therapy, and make them aware of the need for legislation that would enable patients with end-stage kidney disease to receive treatment through Medicare. I remember distinctly two members of this group, Bill Litchfield and Peter Lundin. Bill was a petroleum engineer who did dialysis at home. When he traveled, he used the portable Redy Machine our dialysis unit had purchased. I would help Bill load up his car for his trips to the oil fields in Louisiana. Bill taught me that having kidney disease was an inconvenience but need not control one’s life. Then there was Peter, the first dialysis patient to ever be accepted into medical school. He later became a nephrologist. Peter and I worked on a website for patient education. He also taught me that there is no reason why patients with kidney disease cannot live a full life. It was Peter who introduced me to NAPH (National Association of Patients on Hemodialysis), which was later renamed the AAKP (American Association of Kidney Patients). Their mission resounded with me, and I have since become chairman of their Medical Advisory Board where I have authored over 30 articles for their patient journal.