Flippingamazing! BRAVE GYMNAST’S LEAP OF FAITH
She’sondialysis, butyou’dnever guessit
Gymnast Katherine Paton cartwheels gracefully across a mat in an Auckland hall, her sequined leotard sparkling under the lights. She’s the epitome of vigour as she spins and leaps, her limbs moving effortlessly in sync with the music.
You wouldn’t know the 24-year-old is battling kidney failure and relies on daily dialysis to survive. Despite being hooked up to a machine every six hours, the dedicated sportswoman trains six days a week as a member of New Zealand’s Senior Rhythmic Gymnastics Group.
Together, they’re vigorously preparing to compete in two competitions in Belarus and Russia, followed by the world championships in Bulgaria. Speaking to Woman’s
Day, Katherine explains how gymnastics helps her to lead as normal a life as possible, saying, “It inspires me to stay healthy. It’s the reason I get up and out of the house.”
At five years old, Katherine fell in love with the bars and balance beams at her local gym, and by 13, she’d taken up rhythmic gymnastics.
But a year later, in 2008, the
smiley blonde’s passion was suddenly put on the backburner when she fell ill with flu-like symptoms, vomiting and blurred vision.
Katherine recalls, “It was weird because the week before that, I felt fine, maybe a bit rundown, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then suddenly I was absolutely screwed. Mum said, ‘Oh, you’re just getting your period. You’ll be fine.’ Obviously she was wrong!”
At Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, Katherine learnt she has a genetic mutation that usually shows between the ages of 10 and 20. It meant her kidneys were shrivelling up and not working properly, and she was headed toward end-stage renal failure.
Amother’slove
Transferred to Starship, for six weeks she endured 20 hours of dialysis a day and was told a kidney transplant from a live donor was her best option. Luckily, her mother Sandra’s blood and tissue were a fit, so she offered her healthy organ to the second youngest of her four daughters.
It took a long six months to finalise the surgery, but after a three-hour operation in 2008, the transplant was a success.
“She saved my life, as mums do!” says Katherine, who was back training six months later.
For devoted Sandra, 60, the decision was easy. She smiles, “When it’s your child, you do everything in your power – I wasn’t scared at all. But end-stage renal failure is not an easy fix.
“Katherine has to work very hard to be healthy, achieve her goals and make the most of every day.”
With regular check-ups, lots of rest, and a diet low in sugar, potassium, phosphate and salt, Katherine managed to lead a normal life for seven years, even qualifying as a veterinary nurse and working full-time at a vet clinic while continuing her gymnastics.
However, in 2014, Katherine’s body began rejecting her new kidney. She remembers, “It was scary because I didn’t want to go back on dialysis. I’ve read that the life expectancy of someone on dialysis is five years – but then I’ve also talked to someone who has been on it for 18.”
What followed next for Katherine’s family, though, was even more traumatic. In 2015, her father Michael was diagnosed with lung cancer and in a bid to create final lasting memories, the family planned a tropical break in Fiji.
With just 10% kidney function at the time, Katherine took the risk to travel.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to be with Dad!” she says. But after a week away, she came home 10kg heavier due to fluid build-up. “I slept for a whole day, then Dad told me to go to the doctor. They eventually removed the kidney.”
Sadly, in 2016, Michael passed away at 57, after he and Sandra took a seven-week farewell holiday through Europe. Katherine recalls, “Dad and I were close. He always wanted me to keep pushing, get my transplant and be better. He was also at
every competition. When I did my first competition after he died, I ended up crying halfway through. It was hard.”
Katherine has been waiting for a new kidney for three years. Still, she’s determined to raise enough money to get to the 2018 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup Series in Europe in August with the help of Givealittle.
As well as needing to fly business class for the 17-hour flight so she can raise her legs to reduce swelling, Katherine has to ship her dialysis machines over for the five-week trip.
“It’s the first time a Kiwi team is competing and it could be the step to qualifying for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo,” she smiles, insisting no-one will ever know she’s sick by watching her perform.
“I’ve always come back fighting. “If you want something really bad, you just do everything you can to achieve it.”