Doctors were quite worried that I wouldn’t live past 10 years: Green

For the longest time, Cameron Green was well kept away from the fact that he had a Chronic kidney disease (CKD), something that put his life expectancy at the age of 10. But over the last few years, the all-rounder has come to light about the irreversible disease, which at the moment is at stage two and very close to being stage three. 

“The doctors were quite worried when I was born that I wouldn’t live past 10. It was really risky for me, I only got to know it a few years ago. I was pretty well kept away from the truth, I didn’t know much about it. I was well protected by my family. They wanted to give me a pretty normal childhood,” Green opened up about the disease in a video posted by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). 

“My journey of CKD (Chronic kidney disease) was when I was born, I had a few things go wrong that affected my kidney health. The doctors were quite worried. Both my parents were quite relieved on my tenth birthday when they realised that I was a reasonably healthy baby and that I wasn’t as affected by CKD,” Green added. 

The big Australian all-rounder was also very thankful to RCB, who have been in constant touch with the chefs at the hotel to prepare kidney-specific diet plans. 

“RCB have been unbelievable about it. They have got in touch with the chefs in the hotel, I can call up and talk straight to the chefs for a meal plan for me. I can ask them for a kidney-specific diet,’ he added. 

Green was always into cricket from a very young age, and the biggest challenge for him with CKD is being proactive about his dietary requirements and restrictions, which would reduce the load of the disease. 

“It was a childhood dream of mine to play cricket, they were very happy with it. At the moment, I’m stage 2, very close to stage 3, I have to be very proactive and be careful about what I can eat so that it doesn’t get any worse,” he added. 

The 24-year-old also recollected how having the disease prevented him from performing to his fullest, with regular cramps after a while. While regretting a little bit, Green also insisted that being an all-rounder forces more on his body, taking away a lot of energy due to the big training days - both with the bat and the ball. 

“As a kid, I always used to cramp when I got to 60-70, I thought that I was doing something wrong. Over time, I got told that there were a few other problems going on, and not to worry about it. As an all-rounder, I probably picked the wrong role to play, I got to do way too much at the training. Very big training days, and they take a lot of energy from you,” he added.