Health for Life - Winter 2017

ISTANCE GOING THE

Norm Bell STAFF WRITER

When it came to solving the mystery of his chronic pain, Cole Young had to look beyond his backyard.

At age 18, Cole Young has a clear fix on his career path. He wants to be a nurse and is taking classes toward that goal at Visalia Community College. His combination of interest in healthcare and knowledge of his own body may have saved him from perma- nent kidney damage. Ever since he was in eighth grade, he had dealt with what he described as “a pain in my flank.”

He’s long been active in freestyle BMX and it would have been easy to dismiss the pain as a recurring bicycle riding injury. Young was sure it was more serious. Initially, doctors thought the prob- lem was digestive. But as the pain grew worse, Young and his mother, Kelly Ger- manetti, grew more concerned. His doctor in Visalia ran an ultra- sound test and thought he’d detect-

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