Renee Kloss: From Pain to Joy

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It may be hard to believe that the young woman pictured at right is a recovering alcoholic and addict who played Russian Roulette with her life time and again, but that is indeed the case. Meet Renee Kloss who, at 32, has reclaimed her life, her health, and has started an important Web project for members of the adoption community who suffer from chronic illnesses: Triad Searches for Chronic Illness (TSCI). Renee Kloss and her birthmother

Renee and her birthmother More of this Feature • Part 1: Diagnosis & Doctors
• Part 2: Her Own Thing
• Part 3: Productive Anger

Related Resources

• Open Records Debate
• Why Adoptees Search

Elsewhere on the Web

• NDIC
• Diabetes & Pregnancy

For Renee, the drugs and alcohol were more than dangerous, they were immediately life-threatening. Renee has been a diagnosed diabetic since age 10.

Renee Grande-Kloss grew up with every advantage - the proverbial silver spoon. Adopted as a newborn into a family with three older biological children, she was the center of attention. And she took full advantage!

"I was always a hell-raiser,
a rebellious tomboy from age 5."

At age 10, she was diagnosed with diabetes, and two years later, with the onset of puberty, her diabetes went out of control. Complicating matters were problems with high blood pressure and asthma.

Over the next five years, she came close to death several times and was even put on dialysis. (According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC), 35.9% of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) results from diabetes.)

"The Look"

Necessarily, Renee spent a large part of her young life being tested, evaluated, prodded, and poked. And of course, each doctor's visit was accompanied by the requisite Medical History Form. She says,

"I well remember my parents' and my frustration when the doctors would ask about a 'family history' and I had none. It was so predictable - my parents would say, 'No, she is adopted,' and the doctors would give us the look that adoptive families come to know so well - as though I was from another planet and my parents were nuts. Each time we visited a new specialist, it was the same."

Next page > Doing her own thing > Page 1, 2, 3

Photo is the property of Renee Grande-Kloss, used with permission

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