WEBVTT NOTE language:en-US NOTE Confidence: 0.9396577477455139 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:03.253 Well, first of all, Melanie, all the people that know NOTE Confidence: 0.9396577477455139 00:00:03.310 --> 00:00:05.471 you at DaVita tell me I need to get to NOTE Confidence: 0.9396577477455139 00:00:05.528 --> 00:00:06.039 know you. NOTE Confidence: 0.9039735794067383 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:07.120 And so does the village. NOTE Confidence: 0.9213662147521973 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:08.720 So my name is Melanie. NOTE Confidence: 0.972184956073761 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.600 I am 28 years old. NOTE Confidence: 0.8838542699813843 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:13.589 I'm from Miami, born and raised, but my family is NOTE Confidence: 0.8838542699813843 00:00:13.648 --> 00:00:14.479 from Honduras. NOTE Confidence: 0.8881921172142029 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:15.680 Congratulations. NOTE Confidence: 0.7591168880462646 00:00:15.920 --> 00:00:18.320 First generation to be in college, Yeah. NOTE Confidence: 0.8100173473358154 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:22.375 So you've got all the normal aspirations and, and, and NOTE Confidence: 0.8100173473358154 00:00:22.438 --> 00:00:25.664 there's a change There's there's sort of a pivot in NOTE Confidence: 0.8100173473358154 00:00:25.727 --> 00:00:26.359 your life. NOTE Confidence: 0.5357357859611511 00:00:26.680 --> 00:00:26.880 Yes. NOTE Confidence: 0.8706612586975098 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:27.760 What happened? NOTE Confidence: 0.9614338874816895 00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:30.360 I was getting ready to almost graduate. NOTE Confidence: 0.9402045607566833 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:32.851 I had one year left and all of a sudden NOTE Confidence: 0.9402045607566833 00:00:32.915 --> 00:00:34.639 my life completely changed. NOTE Confidence: 0.7268238067626953 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:56.880 I felt confused, I felt so many emotions. NOTE Confidence: 0.9300743937492371 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:57.160 Really. NOTE Confidence: 0.918218195438385 00:00:57.160 --> 00:00:58.680 I think being first Gen. NOTE Confidence: 0.8922428488731384 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:01.350 being a Latina, you know, you hear from a very NOTE Confidence: 0.8922428488731384 00:01:01.408 --> 00:01:04.195 young age you need to get an education, you need NOTE Confidence: 0.8922428488731384 00:01:04.253 --> 00:01:05.239 to be successful. NOTE Confidence: 0.8957301378250122 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:08.340 The first question I asked was, so can I go NOTE Confidence: 0.8957301378250122 00:01:08.404 --> 00:01:09.360 back to school? NOTE Confidence: 0.9677154421806335 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.960 Like I always put school first, right? NOTE Confidence: 0.9619424343109131 00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:14.880 Like my education, my career first. NOTE Confidence: 0.8823697566986084 00:01:15.080 --> 00:01:17.066 Little did I know I was supposed to be putting NOTE Confidence: 0.8823697566986084 00:01:17.109 --> 00:01:17.800 my health first. NOTE Confidence: 0.9355753064155579 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.280 Then all of a sudden you find out, okay, the NOTE Confidence: 0.9355753064155579 00:01:26.337 --> 00:01:28.400 progression has continued to evolve. NOTE Confidence: 0.9650894999504089 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.000 Your kidneys now are in failure. NOTE Confidence: 0.8276854753494263 00:01:31.160 --> 00:01:32.966 It was the time of my life where I was NOTE Confidence: 0.8276854753494263 00:01:33.013 --> 00:01:35.343 like, I'm going to move out, I'm going to upstart NOTE Confidence: 0.8276854753494263 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:37.719 my career, I'm going to be this independent girl. NOTE Confidence: 0.9436658024787903 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.712 But also I felt very lonely at the time because NOTE Confidence: 0.9436658024787903 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:43.668 not everybody can relate to what it's like having a NOTE Confidence: 0.9436658024787903 00:01:43.725 --> 00:01:45.999 disease, especially at such a young age. NOTE Confidence: 0.9262416958808899 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.520 I think I was 24 at the time. NOTE Confidence: 0.9161890149116516 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:50.354 I go to the DaVita clinic for the first time NOTE Confidence: 0.9161890149116516 00:01:50.417 --> 00:01:53.359 and meet my doctor, my nurse, my social worker. NOTE Confidence: 0.8380891680717468 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:56.080 So you have a support network within DaVita? NOTE Confidence: 0.9157610535621643 00:01:56.440 --> 00:01:58.826 I remember my nurses were like, we're going to be NOTE Confidence: 0.9157610535621643 00:01:58.875 --> 00:02:00.969 here to help you and no matter what you ask NOTE Confidence: 0.9157610535621643 00:02:01.018 --> 00:02:03.599 me questions, you're going to learn little by little. NOTE Confidence: 0.9061229228973389 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:06.080 And my social worker especially I love. NOTE Confidence: 0.9038372039794922 00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:08.169 Her and when I met Melanie for the first time, NOTE Confidence: 0.9038372039794922 00:02:08.214 --> 00:02:08.759 she came in. NOTE Confidence: 0.904547393321991 00:02:08.760 --> 00:02:12.994 She was overwhelmed and so I basically took the time NOTE Confidence: 0.904547393321991 00:02:13.076 --> 00:02:16.904 with her to try to help her navigate things one NOTE Confidence: 0.904547393321991 00:02:16.985 --> 00:02:17.799 at a time. NOTE Confidence: 0.9523104429244995 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:20.280 We connect on the fact that we both love to NOTE Confidence: 0.9523104429244995 00:02:20.334 --> 00:02:21.360 get our nails done. NOTE Confidence: 0.8335291147232056 00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:26.088 Will on support means so much to me because she's NOTE Confidence: 0.8335291147232056 00:02:26.154 --> 00:02:29.494 more than just a social worker, she's like a friend NOTE Confidence: 0.8335291147232056 00:02:29.559 --> 00:02:30.279 down to me. NOTE Confidence: 0.9005211591720581 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:32.840 I'm sure there's high highs and and low lows. NOTE Confidence: 0.859390914440155 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.000 Yeah, a big part of this is mental. NOTE Confidence: 0.8687036037445068 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.204 So it's very normal for people with kidney disease to NOTE Confidence: 0.8687036037445068 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:41.080 suffer with mental health issues. NOTE Confidence: 0.7934039831161499 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:44.630 There's a stigma in the Latino community that like anxiety, NOTE Confidence: 0.7934039831161499 00:02:44.682 --> 00:02:46.840 depression, get out of here, go for a run. NOTE Confidence: 0.8193244934082031 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:48.240 I went into a deep depression. NOTE Confidence: 0.7493393421173096 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:48.680 Actually. NOTE Confidence: 0.9175602197647095 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.550 I felt like every day was just, I felt numb NOTE Confidence: 0.9175602197647095 00:02:51.613 --> 00:02:54.702 and I remember that's when I went to social media NOTE Confidence: 0.9175602197647095 00:02:54.765 --> 00:02:56.720 because it was my lowest point. NOTE Confidence: 0.83477783203125 00:02:56.880 --> 00:02:57.760 So I cheated. NOTE Confidence: 0.661531925201416 00:02:58.040 --> 00:02:58.320 Yeah. NOTE Confidence: 0.9139552712440491 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:01.600 You're not a little, little social media user. NOTE Confidence: 0.9692250490188599 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:03.600 You've got a lot of people following you. NOTE Confidence: 0.35664376616477966 00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:03.720 Yeah. NOTE Confidence: 0.6386159658432007 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:06.320 So tell us how many. NOTE Confidence: 0.8829379677772522 00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:08.160 And they've got a nickname and everything. NOTE Confidence: 0.7646762728691101 00:03:08.160 --> 00:03:10.920 Yeah, so they're, they're my warriors, They're kidney warriors. NOTE Confidence: 0.8140024542808533 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:16.359 And I have about 2022.4 followers right now and growing NOTE Confidence: 0.8140024542808533 00:03:16.458 --> 00:03:19.599 thousand yeah, 22,000 followers. NOTE Confidence: 0.9475853443145752 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.369 I posted a random video and people were like, Oh NOTE Confidence: 0.9475853443145752 00:03:22.423 --> 00:03:23.280 my gosh, me too. NOTE Confidence: 0.8886809945106506 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.000 Oh my gosh, yes, my dad gets the same thing. NOTE Confidence: 0.8215991854667664 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:26.360 And I was like, what you too? NOTE Confidence: 0.951447069644928 00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:30.158 And this community started growing and I started getting questions NOTE Confidence: 0.951447069644928 00:03:30.209 --> 00:03:31.959 and I would make videos answering. NOTE Confidence: 0.7836772203445435 00:03:32.040 --> 00:03:34.721 It's officially been one year since I became a dialysis NOTE Confidence: 0.7836772203445435 00:03:34.770 --> 00:03:35.160 patient. NOTE Confidence: 0.9481725692749023 00:03:35.480 --> 00:03:37.033 So let me tell you a little bit about what NOTE Confidence: 0.9481725692749023 00:03:37.070 --> 00:03:37.440 I learned. NOTE Confidence: 0.8118261098861694 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:39.887 Number one, I'm going to need you to have patience NOTE Confidence: 0.8118261098861694 00:03:39.928 --> 00:03:42.221 because you're not going to know everything at once when NOTE Confidence: 0.8118261098861694 00:03:42.262 --> 00:03:43.040 you start dialysis. NOTE Confidence: 0.9602829217910767 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:45.000 There are so many things you need to learn. NOTE Confidence: 0.9497705698013306 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:46.916 And it was the first time in a long time NOTE Confidence: 0.9497705698013306 00:03:46.961 --> 00:03:47.880 I didn't feel alone. NOTE Confidence: 0.9002968668937683 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.457 And in my mind, I'm just like, I'm just posting NOTE Confidence: 0.9002968668937683 00:03:50.510 --> 00:03:51.519 these silly videos. NOTE Confidence: 0.9542074799537659 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.427 You know, I don't think it's that big of a NOTE Confidence: 0.9542074799537659 00:03:53.473 --> 00:03:54.199 deal, but it is. NOTE Confidence: 0.9409520626068115 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:57.552 Recently I had a comment of a guy saying, Melanie, NOTE Confidence: 0.9409520626068115 00:03:57.618 --> 00:04:00.825 I came across your videos and your video saved my NOTE Confidence: 0.9409520626068115 00:04:00.890 --> 00:04:03.836 life because I wanted to take my own life and NOTE Confidence: 0.9409520626068115 00:04:03.901 --> 00:04:05.079 that was shocking. NOTE Confidence: 0.14861510694026947 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:05.920 Yeah. NOTE Confidence: 0.7191669940948486 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:23.760 Have a presentation on social media. NOTE Confidence: 0.8770719766616821 00:04:23.880 --> 00:04:25.722 Honestly, I want to make a difference in the kidney NOTE Confidence: 0.8770719766616821 00:04:25.758 --> 00:04:26.120 community. NOTE Confidence: 0.6924707293510437 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:27.800 That's that would be my my dream.