If you're reading this, I want to say thank you for at least taking the time to check this out. Even if you're unable to donate (or think I'm just too much of an asshat to donate), checking this out means something to me, so thank you. 

My name is Charles Sanders, and I've actually had kidney stones since I was ten years old, with my first stone at 10.5 mm requiring surgery to remove. I've passed more stones than I can remember, and most of the time I can grin and bear it long enough to drink a ton of water and flush it out. On June 28th  of this year I had what felt like the worst kidney pain I've ever experienced. I could tell something wasn't right; this was like no kidney stone I've felt, so I decided to go to the ER. Thankfully, my main job- where I produce vaccines and personalized biotherapeutics- provides health insurance. Previously, I would have never gone to the ER due to the fear of overwhelming hospital bills.

Turns out my left kidney has many little stones ranging from 5 mm to 11 mm and I also have what's called a staghorn calculus in my right kidney. In other words, I have a kidney stone that's so freaking intense it resembles the horns of a grown male deer. The largest arm of the stone is ~2.7 cm in length, and the other three are not far from that. It was determined I would need at least one surgery to remove the larger stone and could potentially need another surgery to clear my left kidney. BUT WAIT, there's more! They also found I had contracted Hepatitis A from something I ingested in the 4-6 weeks previous, and that may have been a precipitating factor influencing my already precipitous kidneys to produce deer horns....

Considering that my primary job is making a therapeutic product that goes into people and I could potentially contaminate it with Hepatitis A, I have been prohibited from returning  to work at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies until I am confirmed no longer infectious. I have plenty of student debt from putting myself through college at Texas A&M, and as such I also held two separate jobs to support myself and cover my bills; I was a bartender at the Lake Bryan Icehouse and also a research technician for Dr. Christine Heaps within the Texas A&M Vet school. Since I couldn't legally serve food and beverages at the summer-time bar, and my (infectious) presence could potentially create complications for the research project I worked on, I had to say goodbye to both of those forms of income. 

Thankfully, my (now only) job makes me elligible for disability leave and they are assisting me financially for a brief time. However, because I'm not working 2 extra jobs I am no longer earning enough money to cover my normal bills, let alone my medical bills. Despite my insurance covering 90% of medical costs, I've still already incurred a debt of over $2900 since my ER visit at the end of June, and I anticipate it to only grow from there.

My first surgery is scheduled for this coming Monday the 15th of August; after extracting the staghorn they will be able to determine if other surgeries are necessary or not. My hopes are for the latter, but time will tell. 

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If you're still reading this, I can't say enough what that means...at the bare minimum, thank you so very much for your time.

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A little tangent: I've been aspiring to go to medical school for quite some time now. Both of my parents passed away when I was young. My father in a car crash when I was only a year old, and my mother to a genetic lung disease, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, when I was 10. My close relationship with my mother is the main reason I want to be a doctor and help people in ways I could never help her...And as you might imagine, my personal bouts with kidney stones have only inspired me further to pursue my dreams. Having thought I would be spending the summer of 2016 focusing on my medical school applications, this has been a drastic change for me. In my current financial situation, I expected I wouldn't be applying this year due to money; my last round of medical school applications cost me a little over $2200. I'm EXTREMELY grateful that my aunt Sue and Uncle James have offered to give me a birthday present of covering my primary application fees, saying that my "dreams shouldn't be put on hold for medical bills". Not only are they helping that way, but they've also been helping take care of me with the Hepatitis and are preparing to care for me during recovery from surgery. 

Now with all that said, I believe you might have a pretty good idea of why I'm setting this up. I'm not typically one to ask for help unless I really need it. Anyone that knows me can vouch for how hard I work and how I put my integrity and passion into everything I do. If you choose to donate and help me in my time of need, I promise that the money raised will be used ONLY for medical bills. I'm setting the goal at $2500 knowing that won't cover everything, but when I get back to work I can bust ass to make it work and cover everything else on my own. In the event that my bills become reduced and/or I have raised more than necessary for my bills, I will be PERSONALLY returning ALL EXCESS MONEY back to donors, in whatever way possible. 

If you've read this far, thank you thank you thank you. It was quite a long read, so thank you for spending that time on me. You give me hope.