Colleen McGroder kidney transplant fund
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Colleen McGroder’s Kidney Transplant Fund
This FUNDRAISER is to help raise money for the costs associated with Colleen's upcoming KIDNEY TRANSPLANT scheduled for December 26, 2018, as well as the mounting medical bills she has from doing peritoneal dialysis for the last year. After Colleen receives her transplant she may be out of work for 3-5 months recovering. During this time she will have reduced and limited income. Her longtime boyfriend, David, will be taking off work for the first month to care for Colleen, also limiting their income.
Colleen has to pay a significant amount for her transplant surgery, hospital stay (3-5 days), anesthesia, as well as the cost of the donor's surgery, hospital stay and anesthesia and any other costs associated with it (aftercare co-pays, etc.). Although Colleen has insurance through work (Fairfax County Public Schools), her portion of the approximate $400,000-$600,000 is still significant (her share may be more than $60,000). Colleen will also have to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of her life and the cost is approximately $500-$2000/month, depending on the kind of medication and dose she will be receiving.
Colleen’s story:
Colleen has lived in Northern Virginia for 18 years. She is originally from a suburb outside of Buffalo, N.Y. She has a 25-year-old daughter, Caitlyn, a son-in-law Danny and her boyfriend of 7 years, Dave. Colleen has worked as an occupational therapist for Fairfax County Public Schools for the past 14 years and lives in Loudoun County. She is a very caring person and will do anything for anyone.
She was diagnosed in 2002 with Medullary Cystic Kidney Disease. Unfortunately, it runs very deep in her family; her family is one of only two hundred in the world with this rare form of kidney disease specifically called Autosomal Dominant Tubulo-Interstitial Kidney Disease. It is caused by a mutation in the MUC-1 gene. It has affected about 75% of the maternal side of Colleen’s family (grandmother, brother, cousins, uncles, etc.) and her mom died in 1995 from end-stage renal failure at the young age of 57. Although Colleen maintained adequate kidney function for nearly 15 years, her kidney function began to rapidly fail, progressing her kidney disease from Stage 2 to Stage 5 (end-stage renal failure) in less than 2 years.
In April 2017, she was placed on the kidney transplant list through Fairfax Hospital Transplant Center (with the wait for a kidney from 5-8 years!!!) and began at home peritoneal dialysis in December of 2017. She performs peritoneal dialysis “exchanges” three times a day, at home, while continuing to work full time. Needless to say, it has been a very difficult time emotionally and physically, and she was beginning to lose hope.
Then, at the start of this school year, the unimaginable happened! A former principal at one of her schools generously offered to get tested and it turned out he was a MATCH and is donating his kidney!! Colleen has said that this “the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for!”
We want to help Colleen raise the funds she needs and to allow her to focus on healing and not rejecting her new kidney. We do not want her to stress, especially about money. If you know Colleen, then you know she stresses, about everything.
THANK YOU to everyone that has already donated their time to put the live fundraising event together. Please see the Facebook event page: “Colleen McGroder Live Fundraiser”.
This FUNDRAISER is to help raise money for the costs associated with Colleen's upcoming KIDNEY TRANSPLANT scheduled for December 26, 2018, as well as the mounting medical bills she has from doing peritoneal dialysis for the last year. After Colleen receives her transplant she may be out of work for 3-5 months recovering. During this time she will have reduced and limited income. Her longtime boyfriend, David, will be taking off work for the first month to care for Colleen, also limiting their income.
Colleen has to pay a significant amount for her transplant surgery, hospital stay (3-5 days), anesthesia, as well as the cost of the donor's surgery, hospital stay and anesthesia and any other costs associated with it (aftercare co-pays, etc.). Although Colleen has insurance through work (Fairfax County Public Schools), her portion of the approximate $400,000-$600,000 is still significant (her share may be more than $60,000). Colleen will also have to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of her life and the cost is approximately $500-$2000/month, depending on the kind of medication and dose she will be receiving.
Colleen’s story:
Colleen has lived in Northern Virginia for 18 years. She is originally from a suburb outside of Buffalo, N.Y. She has a 25-year-old daughter, Caitlyn, a son-in-law Danny and her boyfriend of 7 years, Dave. Colleen has worked as an occupational therapist for Fairfax County Public Schools for the past 14 years and lives in Loudoun County. She is a very caring person and will do anything for anyone.
She was diagnosed in 2002 with Medullary Cystic Kidney Disease. Unfortunately, it runs very deep in her family; her family is one of only two hundred in the world with this rare form of kidney disease specifically called Autosomal Dominant Tubulo-Interstitial Kidney Disease. It is caused by a mutation in the MUC-1 gene. It has affected about 75% of the maternal side of Colleen’s family (grandmother, brother, cousins, uncles, etc.) and her mom died in 1995 from end-stage renal failure at the young age of 57. Although Colleen maintained adequate kidney function for nearly 15 years, her kidney function began to rapidly fail, progressing her kidney disease from Stage 2 to Stage 5 (end-stage renal failure) in less than 2 years.
In April 2017, she was placed on the kidney transplant list through Fairfax Hospital Transplant Center (with the wait for a kidney from 5-8 years!!!) and began at home peritoneal dialysis in December of 2017. She performs peritoneal dialysis “exchanges” three times a day, at home, while continuing to work full time. Needless to say, it has been a very difficult time emotionally and physically, and she was beginning to lose hope.
Then, at the start of this school year, the unimaginable happened! A former principal at one of her schools generously offered to get tested and it turned out he was a MATCH and is donating his kidney!! Colleen has said that this “the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for!”
We want to help Colleen raise the funds she needs and to allow her to focus on healing and not rejecting her new kidney. We do not want her to stress, especially about money. If you know Colleen, then you know she stresses, about everything.
THANK YOU to everyone that has already donated their time to put the live fundraising event together. Please see the Facebook event page: “Colleen McGroder Live Fundraiser”.
Organizer
Jeffrey Winer
Organizer
Ashburn, VA
