The fight beyond the badge: Deputy battles kidney failure with a positive attitude
By Bethany Cates
Click here for updates on this story
GUILFORD COUNTY, North Carolina (WXII) — Every day is like clockwork for Deputy Rajinique Austin, who has been battling kidney failure for two years and continues to serve her community every day as a Guilford County deputy. She is optimistic for a match.
“If I wasn’t here, you know the world would go on, time goes on, but if everybody else can get up and go to work and make it work and work hard, I can too,” Austin said.
Austin prepares her dialysis machine before work, goes to the courthouse, and returns home to connect to the machine, maintaining a routine that ends around midnight.
“I try to get on right before six or by six, and I’ll be done around 12 a.m.,” said Austin.
There’s a fight beyond the badge as she battles stage 5 kidney failure, even having to make sacrifices to prioritize her health. Austin said she had to give her car up, “I couldn’t afford my car with the rent, prescription and doctor bills.”
Austin said this all started back in 2024 while she was at work, and she experienced abdominal pain she had never felt before. She said her mother has been her biggest motivator, after going through the same thing.
“She advised me that either you’re going to cry about it or you’re going to just take it and go through because you don’t have any options,” said Austin.
Her fellow deputies said that is exactly what she’s done.
“She’s amazing,” said Chris Ferguson. “She shows up every day, she’s got a positive attitude; everything that she’s gone through, she’s still inspiring to everyone in the office,” Ferguson added.
While the internal clock might be ticking mentally and physically, Austin is hoping an O or B blood type donor will come knocking at her door.
“I can get back to normal,” said Austin. “I can get back to hanging out with my friends, because I won’t have to do treatment every night, I can get back to working out I can get back to overtime, traveling, everything I was doing before,” she added.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.