Hi, I would like to help you with that question. From experience at age 14, I had protein in the urine. I did the 24 hour urine and after that they never wanted to see me again. I am now 18 years old, and have a kidney failure(both my kidnies damaged). I believe that having protein in the urine can cause serious complications or chronic diseases such as kidney failure. I want to warn you before anything bad happenes to your grandfather. I still have protein in my urine and it has gotten worse because the doctors when I was 14, never did anything to prevent the protein from coming even more. I now take pills to control the level of protein in my urine.