AUSTRALIAN cricket player Cameron Green is one of his country's brightest stars.
The 24-year-old, however, lost his spot in the Test side in the summer and is fighting his way back into the team.
Green started playing cricket when he was just 10 years old and at just 16 he made his professional debut.
An all-rounder, Green broke into Australia's ODI side in 2020 before doing the same in their Test against India at the end of the year.
Green has done all this while keeping a secret illness hidden from the public and his team-mates.
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What is Cameron Green's kidney illness?
Green has revealed that he was diagnosed with stage two kidney disease before he was even born.
And he only recently told his team-mates.
Green says he didn't know if he would live past the age of 12, before ultimately managing to steady the disease.
The condition means that Green's body isn't able to filter blood like it should do.
“It just got picked up during ultrasounds,” Green told Channel 7.
“Chronic kidney disease is basically a progressive disease of your kidney’s health function.
“Unfortunately, mine doesn’t filter the blood as well as other kidneys. They are about six per cent at the moment, which is stage two. With chronic kidney disease there are five stages, with stage one being the least severe and stage five being transplant or dialysis, and fortunately enough I am stage two.
“But if you don’t look after them enough, it easily goes back down because kidneys can’t get better. It’s irreversible.
“Growing up, I can remember being in the hospital every week getting ultrasounds on my kidneys, just checking the size and the health of them.
“My parents got told when I was younger I could be very small, which is pretty funny to look back on now.
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"I consider myself very lucky that I am not affected as much physically by chronic kidney disease as other people that have the same thing.”
