After Suni Lee gained gold within the ladies’s gymnastics particular person all-around remaining on the Tokyo Olympics, the Paris Video games felt like a pure subsequent step—a shoo-in, even—till a sudden bout of painful and distressing signs turned her world upside-down (and never within the adrenaline-fueled, mat-flip form of method).
Final yr, the now 21-year-old gymnast was identified with two uncommon kidney ailments, which sidelined her coaching and rocked her bodily and psychological well being for months. Since then, Lee has shared snippets of her well being journey, and on June 30, she certified for the Paris Video games—the place she’s already crushing her routines (in a dazzling leotard and modern press-on nails, naturally). On July 28, Lee certified for the all-around remaining set for August 1—the place she’ll face off towards Simone Biles in a history-making occasion. And on July 30, Group USA dominated, taking dwelling the gold within the ladies’s crew remaining.
At her lowest level, although, Lee feared that competing in gymnastics ever once more—not to mention incomes a medal at one other Olympics—could be inconceivable, she advised SELF for an October cowl story final yr. “We didn’t know what was attainable. We didn’t know what was incorrect with me,” she stated. Under, we dive into all the pieces Lee has shared about her kidney illness, from the jarring warning indicators to how she’s feeling at this time.
Lee’s first signs appeared seemingly in a single day.
In February 2023, Lee wakened with swollen ankles and shortly blamed her intense coaching routine, she beforehand advised SELF in a cowl story. She didn’t assume a lot of it till the next morning, when her face, palms, and legs—basically her complete physique—adopted go well with. “I simply saved getting extra swollen…and I believe I gained, like, 40 kilos,” she recalled. The swelling instantly affected her coaching. “I saved peeling off the bar. I couldn’t maintain on,” she stated. “My fingers have been so swollen.”
At first, docs thought Lee was experiencing an allergic response, however as her signs progressed over two weeks, Lee knew that was unlikely. In March 2023, she needed to sit out of an NCAA meet—at this level she was competing as a pupil with Auburn College’s gymnastics crew—and all of the whereas she and her medical suppliers have been at a loss for what was incorrect. “It affected my complete physique and the way I seemed and the way I used to be feeling,” she stated.
Along with excessive swelling (she had generally even woken up along with her eyes swollen shut), Lee additionally skilled sizzling flashes, chilly spells, complications, and cramping. On the April Group USA Media Summit, she shared that she lived with fixed ache, nausea, and lightheadedness. “I couldn’t bend my legs the slightest. I couldn’t squeeze my fingers,” she stated.
This all took a psychological toll too. That point of her life was “very, very depressing,” Lee candidly shared on the summit. “I couldn’t even have a look at myself within the mirror,” she advised Sports activities Illustrated in June. “I used to be simply rotting in my mattress. I couldn’t speak to anyone. I didn’t depart the home.”
She was finally identified with two uncommon kidney situations.
Lee had undergone a number of medical exams to no avail when USA Gymnastics crew doctor Marcia Faustin requested if her docs had accomplished a routine urine take a look at. Lee hadn’t, and admitted that she had been having issue peeing for 2 weeks—a purple flag that pointed to kidney issues (which runs in her household, one thing that Lee hadn’t identified earlier on, The New York Occasions studies). Her docs ran extra labs, and she or he was lastly referred to a specialist who really helpful a biopsy of her kidney tissue, which might decide if it had indicators of injury or illness.
