Chase Gallagher is an incredibly hard worker, a claim that’s proven by his thriving landscaping business. This is even more impressive because Chase is just 23 years old. But as young as he is today, he’s already navigated an immense number of obstacles – and complement 3 glomerulopathy (C3G) has caused many of those obstacles.
“I was diagnosed in second grade after experiencing a lot of swelling. My mom took me to the doctor but she said to close our windows and put on the air conditioning. She thought it was allergies, so they didn’t do any tests,” he said. “The swelling continued for weeks and then I had some sort of swelling attack. My ankles were swelling up, my scrotum really swelled up, and that’s when I went to the hospital.”
Chase stayed in the hospital for two weeks while they ran a vast range of tests. He was fortunate enough to have a doctor who had recently attended a training on rare kidney diseases – and who was able to recognize the markers and diagnose Chase with C3G.
“At the time, I did not comprehend what was wrong with me. I didn’t understand the drugs I was being put on and I had no idea how the disease worked,” he said. “I was literally a second grader so I was more concerned about the social aspect, going to school and still being swollen, missing more school.”
Some of Chase’s medications wreaked havoc on his body, even as they helped manage his C3G. He found himself trying to navigate puberty while also dealing with mental health issues that stemmed from his meds, his parents’ divorce, and ultimately gained over 100 pounds.
“Sixth grade is when I really started gaining a lot of weight. I dealt with kids making fun of me at school and I couldn’t do physical sports anymore,” he said. “At this time, all of my C3G symptoms were related to my mental health and my weight. But my kidney function remained stable enough.”
During high school, Chase made a choice to lose the weight he’d put on due to medications and turning to food as a coping mechanism. Not long before he graduated high school, he also chose not to attend college. Instead, he fully dedicated himself to his landscaping business. But the high of these accomplishments didn’t last as long as he’d hoped.
“I’m at my doctor’s appointment, a smile on my face, chatting about business, when he says ‘Your kidney function is decreasing rapidly. It’s at 40%.’ At first, I was thinking that it would bounce back, that we’d make a plan to adjust meds and improve it,” he said. “But by the end of the visit, we were talking about the fact that I’d need a kidney transplant. And then he told me that I also needed to change to a different hospital for treatment because I had turned nineteen years old and this pediatric hospital could no longer treat me.”
This marked the beginning of Chase’s efforts to have a transplant. His mom wanted to donate hers, but her weight rendered her ineligible. He was just beginning to rebuild a relationship with his dad, so he didn’t ask him about donating. So for the next year, Chase struggled with the reality of needing a transplant, even as his kidney function kept decreasing.
“Over that year, my kidney function was just dropping: 30%, then 22%, then 20%. That’s when I got put on the waitlist but, in my area, it’s an eight year waitlist,” he said. “I found myself in New Jersey with my father and his new wife, completely out of options, so I broke down in tears and explained where I was at. That next week, they both signed up to donate their kidney.”
Eight months later, Chase’s father had cleared all of the hurdles to donate his kidney so, on August 26th, a 20-year-old Chase received his kidney transplant.
“Pain-wise, I had the toughest weeks of my life post-transplant. Those were literally the hardest days of my life,” he said. “I couldn’t go to sleep, I could barely breathe, I couldn’t even talk. The hospital’s pain management plan just was not working for me.”
As challenging as it was, his particular ordeal led Chase to the words that guide him today.
“I have very tough days, seasons, weeks, months, and I take the good with the bad, but my whole life is now based on the things that I didn’t have post-transplant: my breath, my words, my steps,” he said. “So at minimum, you can take everything away from me today, but as long as I wake up tomorrow and have those, I’m a blessed individual. That’s my mindset that I operate with on a day-to-day basis.”
Today, Chase sees all of his C3G hurdles as adversity that ultimately made him stronger. His business is thriving and, apart from the occasional bout of gout, his health is in a pretty stable place. When he’s not working, he supports the efforts of NephCure by hosting a 5K Walk/Run on the anniversary of his transplant to raise money for rare kidney diseases, as well as volunteering as a youth mentor at events to support young people living with similar diseases. But he’s not finished yet.
“I want to spread awareness in the medical community because I want doctors to better understand the details of our side effects and be able to diagnose people with these rare kidney diseases. I also believe that it shouldn’t take eight entire months for someone to be approved to donate a kidney,” he said. “But my number one goal is for there to be a cure for C3G. That’s what I pray for.”
Chase is working towards a future where other second graders don’t have to face the life-altering news that he received.
“Sometimes, I wish I was a normal kid, that I didn’t have any health issues. I obviously want that but, at the same time, I might not be the same person if I didn’t have these struggles,” he said. “Coming out of my transplant, two and a half years later, I actually look at it as my strong suit. I have a bigger purpose than just making my next dollar or making my next client happy.”
