Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 20-year-old Connor Dacko spends four hours in a chair receiving dialysis treatment at Renown Health Center in Reno.
This is what every week has looked like for Dacko since January 2024, when his kidney disease progressed to end stage renal disease (ESRD), commonly referred to as kidney failure. As of August, Dacko has been waiting on the kidney transplant lists in Nevada and Arizona.
UNOS reports there are currently 93,000 Americans waiting on the transplant list for a kidney.
Dacko was first diagnosed with kidney disease at 13 years old, but it is only a side effect of his original diagnosis: a tethered spinal cord causing a neurogenic bladder that damaged his kidneys enough to require a transplant at the age of 20. Only 6% of people with chronic kidney disease are between the ages of 18-44.
In addition to being a dialysis patient, Dacko is also a third year student at UNR majoring in marketing who works part time at the UNR chemistry lab. Despite his condition, he tries his best to portray himself as a normal college student and give himself a normal college experience.
The hardships he experiences go beyond the symptoms of his condition, which include nerve damage in the lower half of his body, severe hypertension, pain, limited mobility, and memory loss. Dacko has to juggle strict dietary restrictions that exclude foods high in phosphate, potassium, and sodium as well as a limit of 32 ounces of fluids per day.
“That is definitely one of my biggest mental challenges. I can't enjoy anything. I can't even enjoy water,” Dacko explains. “I can barely get up from my seat without being out of breath. I have to take breaks going upstairs. I have to take breaks walking half a mile.”
Beyond his health challenges, Dacko says his financial burdens are his biggest stress. Dacko’s inflexible dialysis schedule limits his availability for most jobs as do his physical limitations.
Dacko struggles to afford things like rent, groceries, textbooks, and tuition on top of affording his bills for dialysis, the 10 different medications he takes weekly, and procedures like his fistula surgery to have a vein and artery in his arm fused together to receive dialysis through.
“It's just so many different bills all coming in at once, and I don't have the time or energy or physical ability to work and make enough money for all of it,” Dacko says.
Dacko also recently learned that despite obtaining a government issued handicap placard through the DMV over the summer in an attempt to park on campus without purchasing an expensive parking permit, he will still have to pay to park on campus and avoid the mile and a half walk from his apartment at SAGA Reno to the Davidson Math and Science Center where he works on campus.
UNR requires handicap students to purchase a $168 UNR specific handicap placard separate from DMV issued handicap placards to park in accessible parking spots across campus.
Despite working a campus job and virtually tutoring middle schoolers in math to support himself at UNR, Dacko and his family are struggling to afford his tuition this semester in addition to his costly medical expenses.
If you would like to help Dacko continue his education at UNR and contribute to paying his medical bills, you can donate to Dacko’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-connor-manage-tuition-and-medical-costs
Our Town Reno reporting by Lily Wright