Australia all-rounder Cameron Green has revealed that he has chronic kidney disease.
The 24-year-old was diagnosed with the condition at birth, with doctors telling his parents there was a chance he may not live beyond the age of 12.
Green has since gone on to play in all three formats for Australia and was in the squad for their recent World Cup win.
“I’m still trying to learn as much as I can about it,” Green told Channel 7.
“Basically, my kidneys don’t work as well as other people’s and don’t filter the blood very well.
“So I have got to keep my salt and my protein quite low, which isn’t ideal as a cricketer but around games I can pick that protein intake back up because I spend so much of it out on the ground.
“It’s just about finding the best ways to look after me.”
Green said his kidney function is currently at about 60%, which puts him at stage two with stage five being the most severe.
“I have always done everything right, eating and drinking in a professional way so I did have to make that quite clear, but it is a work in progress,” he added.
“There’s always a chance that if I don’t look after myself right, this could go from stage two to stage five.
“The kidneys don’t heal, it’s a regressive disease, they can’t repair themselves. So if you don’t look after them, it can get worse – maybe not in the space of a couple of months but certainly over years.”
The condition was detected at Green’s mother’s 19-week scan and there were serious concerns about his life expectancy.
“At the time it was unchartered territory as such, the prognosis wasn’t great,” said Green’s father, Gary.
“There were life expectancy issues that he might not expect to live past 12 years of age.”
However, Green has not been held back by the disease and has played 24 Tests, 23 one-day internationals and eight T20 internationals since making his Australia debut in 2020.
“With the profile I’ve got, I just felt like it was important, and if I can help just one person with raising this awareness then it’s worth it,” he said.
“It’s never really impacted me physically but some of the symptoms were a lot of cramping.
“I’d be playing footy and get to the third quarter and I’d go down with double-calf cramps but I never really put the link together, I just thought that maybe I was running too much or not eating or drinking properly.
“You can see that I am fine physically and that normally isn’t the case for people with this disease so I do consider myself pretty lucky.”
