Everything Suni Lee Has Said About Her Incurable Kidney Disease

(People) – USA gymnastics star Sunisa “Suni” Lee is taking on the Olympics after an incurable kidney disease nearly derailed her career.

Lee — who hasn’t shared her specific diagnosis (she has said it could change following additional testing) — first knew something was wrong when she began swelling to a point that doctors thought she was having an allergic reaction.

“I kept peeling off the bar. I couldn’t hold on,” Lee, 21, told SELF magazine. “My fingers were so swollen, and I couldn’t even do a normal kip cast to handstand on bars.”

The swelling continued, she told the outlet, until “I think I gained, like, 40 pounds.”

“It affected my whole body and how I looked and how I was feeling.”

Testing and an eventual kidney biopsy diagnosed Lee with kidney disease — which forced her to end her college gymnastics career last April, after her physicians at her school, Auburn University, didn’t clear her to train. 

“I am blessed and thankful to be working with the best specialized medical team to treat and manage my diagnosis. My focus at this time is my health and recovery,” she said at the time.

Symptoms of chronic kidney disease are wide-ranging, the Mayo Clinic reports, and can include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, sleep problems, decreased mental sharpness, and muscle cramps.

Her condition also forced Lee to opt out of the world championship team last September, due to challenges related to her medication.