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My wife and many in her family including her father have suffered the devastating effects of polycistic kidney disease--PKD. She is the oldest surviving member of her family of all those who had the disease. It is a inherited disease.

One of the consequences of the disease is it can and does cause brain aneurysms.

When we changed Medicare companies, the new company asked her to have a complete evaluation including a brain scan. We went to the doctor for the follow up, and we found that she had a brain aneurysm. Went to a neurosurgeon, and about a month later, she had the procedure done.

It was so very close because, when the neurosurgeon started the procedure, the aneurysm was just starting to rupture.

What they actually do these days is to strengthen the part of the brain that is affected with platinum--it actually fills the bubble.

My wife is a part of the PKD Stops With Me movement. She wants me tell you that there was nothing in her daily well-being or routine medical care that showed she had a brain aneurysm.

I think she would also want me to tell you to be very careful with your kidneys. Fortunately, a donor, our adult son, stepped forward and donated a kidney so that his Mom, my wife, could survive the disease so that she could live without a lifetime of treatment that could have included life-long dialysis.

My mom was recently diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease They discovered it by chance during a scan for something else. Doc told her that the first noticeable symptom is usually a brain aneurysm. She mentioned that her late uncle was treated for a brain aneurysm at St Mary’s (she was at Mayo Clinic) so they had quick access to his records and he did indeed have polycystic kidney disease.

So the polycystic kidney disease came from her dad’s side, same side that passed on elevated levels of LPa , which caused her heart attack 17 years ago at age 51. Out of 7 siblings, her uncle is the only one who had an aneurysm as far as I know.