Richelle was the fittest she had ever been. And then she lost her vision

2 weeks ago 9

“Good, thanks” is the response often given by those with a chronic illness or disability when asked how they are. This series looks behind the masks of those living with chronic illness.

This story is part of our “good, thanks” series, starting important conversations about chronic illness and disability.

Former Australian Rules footballer Richelle ‘Rocky’ Cranston was 30 years old and at the top of her game when she was dealt a life-changing blow. She was living her dream playing for the Western Bulldogs when she began experiencing some concerning symptoms.

“All of a sudden I lost vision in one of my eyes and couldn’t really see,” she says. “Before that I’d also had pretty constant headaches, itchiness and cramping.”

Richelle “Rocky” Cranston has been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for more than a year.

Cranston went to hospital, where she stayed for two weeks. Her vision returned, but she was diagnosed with stage four kidney disease.

“I was the fittest and healthiest I’d ever been,” says Cranston, now 35. “The first thing that was going through my head was, ‘will I still be able to play footy?’ I didn’t quite understand how serious it was.”

Stage four kidney disease is severe kidney function loss, where your kidneys are not working as they should to filter waste from your blood. It’s the last stage before kidney failure.

The two-time leading goalkicker kept the news close to her chest for the first few years following her diagnosis, not wanting anyone to think of her differently. Keeping it quiet worked at first, but when Cranston’s diagnosis progressed to stage five, hiding the reality of her disease was no longer an option.

“I was like, ‘holy crap, I’m really feeling it now’. Things had turned, and I didn’t feel good any more. My fitness was declining. I over-trained and tried to do anything I could to elongate the process and keep playing footy. But I couldn’t keep up.”

After playing 13 games for the Demons and three seasons for the Geelong Cats, Cranston retired in 2023.

“I never thought I’d be able to have the chance to play at that level, and then it was taken away from me. But I knew when stage five hit I had to start dialysis right away, and I couldn’t keep playing with the tube in my stomach, so in the end I had no choice,” she says. “In many ways it was a relief to not have to keep fronting up when my body just wanted to stop.”

The tube Cranston refers to is a peritoneal dialysis catheter, which is inserted into the stomach and used to deliver the treatment. Cranston is required to wear this catheter in a belt strapped to her 24 hours a day.

“At the start I was like, ‘this sucks’ and was self-conscious, but now, I just own it.”

Cranston, who now owns a CrossFit gym in Geelong, says she’s lucky to have an incredible support system, no-one more so than her partner, Emily Boswell.

“She’s pretty much the perfect woman for me, she is a paramedic, nurse and a crossfit coach,” says Cranston. “There’s a lot we can’t do because of my situation and the dialysis, but she always tells me she doesn’t care about any of that as long as I’m alive.”

Cranston experiences constant symptoms that affect her daily life, including fatigue, restless legs, headaches and an itchiness she says can feel as though she has ants crawling on her.

“And I get a lot of pain from the tube, we call it ‘drain pain’; it fills my stomach with glucose and then after an hour it drains into the machine. If I had to describe it, it would be like the worst period pain I’ve ever had.”

Richelle continues to deal with symptoms on a daily basis including fatigue, headaches and an itchiness that feels like ant crawling on her skin.

In Australia, the average wait for a kidney transplant is two and a half years. Cranston has been on the list for more than a year.

“It all depends on your blood type and your antibodies; someone has to pass away in hospital and on life support – and not many people pass away that way,” says Cranston.

Last year, just 253 kidneys were donated in Australia, with 1,800 people on the waiting list.

Cranston’s partner and friends have offered to go through the testing process to see if they’re a match, but she says she isn’t comfortable putting a loved one through the procedure.

“The surgery for the person donating is worse than mine would be. I’d leave the procedure feeling great and the other person would be feeling worse. And then I’m taking away some of your kidney functions. It’s just not something I could do.”

Now she’s on the list, Cranston stays close to home, always keeping her phone nearby.

“If you go overseas you get taken off the list, so I can’t really travel, so I stay around home.”

While many could resent a kidney disease diagnosis at the height of their career, Cranston is not one of them.

“Having a chronic illness is literally like waking up every day like you’re hungover - but you didn’t have any fun the night before! But I’m never like, ‘why me?’ I’m lucky that I still got eight great years playing football. It’s changed my outlook on life; the small stuff doesn’t phase me anymore.”

“I’m blessed with the life I have. I still work full-time, I play baseball on the weekends. I’ve got Emily, my dogs, great family and friends and my gym community. Sure, I have days where I can’t get out of bed, but I still manage.”

And if that wasn’t enough, Cranston has something else coming up that’s giving her a new purpose: she and Emily are starting the process to have a baby through IVF.

“It’s just another reason – of many – to keep going,” she says.

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