When couples say their wedding vows, many of them promise to be faithful to each other through sickness and health. When Betty and Richey Coffey married in 1964 there was no way they could have foreseen the physical and emotional challenges they would endure for the next 50 years.

Chronic kidney disease -- without the splashy races, ad campaigns, and extensive media coverage -- falls below the public radar. And because of that, a patient may be less likely to ask his or her doctor how to prevent it or even understand how it develops.

They're making the best of things. Violeta has learned to go to mass by herself. Immaculate Conception is only five blocks away, but for Vincent it might as well be a million miles.