Minimal change (rare kidney disease)

Please, i have a friend whose young child (4 yrs) has been fairly recently diagnosed with some strange disease they've termed "minimal change disease." It is some rare kidney disase and they don't know the cause. I always suspect vaccines or some other toxic exposure (it happened right after they did some major work on their home). Now he is on massive doses of steroids, otherwise he swells up with water retention like a balloon. They say he's become steroid-dependent, however, and so now they want to switch him to some other cancer drug, which of course has many adverse side-effects. One causes osteoporosis by the time he's in his 20's and the other could cause cancer (leukemia). So, she is in a quandry what to do. Thinks she has no other options.
Has anyone else out there heard of this disease or have any suggestions of what she might try? I got her to try mangosteen juice for a while, a natural anti-inflamatory and it helped a bit, but they couldn't afford the cost. She also tried some other natural remedy,and again, it helped, but not enough and the cost became an issue as it's very expensive. anyway, any help anyone oculd provide would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help. This is my first posting, so hope i'm doing this right.Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and good health to you all. Tweet