Saving Dad

Dad has been diagnosed with Stage 5 End Stage Renal Failure, and according to the doctors, he will die very soon without a transplant or Regenerative Medicine treatment. 

Dad’s faith is strong and he has seen healing and restorative miracles happen before, in his family and friends as well as in himself, and believes that God will do it again! As a family, we stand in agreement with him that added to his faith and the healthy lifestyle he leads, this treatment will work to heal his body. He will receive a series of stem cell treatments at a clinic on the other side of the country as quickly as possible.  We need your help to cover the expense of the treatments, estimated at $40,000. Please help us get him the lifesaving treatment he needs. Donate whatever you can as soon as you can.

(Father's Day 2020, The 3 Ds: Don Sr., Donald Jr. & Donald III aka Trey)

About Dad...

Ask the two youngest grandchildren what they love most about him and they will tell you that “Topsie” is “funny and silly” and “a loving Grandfather.” His older grandchildren will tell you that "he always puts his family first," he is  “very wise and funny,” and that they “enjoy listening to him tell stories about his childhood" and about my childhood  too. As his oldest son and namesake, I tell you Pop is loyal, strong, intelligent, brave, passionate, and generous to a fault. He will give you the shirt off his back and the last dime in his pocket, and has done so for me and many of you, when you needed help. He would love nothing more than to continue to share the best of himself, his faith, his love, his heart, and his wisdom, with his family and community. We love our Dad and we’d like to make sure he sticks around for a lot longer than the very short amount of time that the doctors are telling us he has to live. 

(The grands together in 2014)

Don Maxey, Sr. (aka Dad, Popps, Topsie) is amazing! First and foremost, he is a God made man. He is a devoted husband of 40 years, a dedicated father of four, an incredibly involved grandfather of six, a dependable friend to many, and a respected mentor to countless Boy Scouts. He can build you a house, tell you anything you want to know about history, predict the weather, laugh you under the table and give the best bearhugs. He can survive in the wilderness, make the best peach cobbler, and always shoots straight.

While running his own construction company, he built custom homes in Florida for years before moving back to GA to plant his growing family. Together with his amazing wife, they worked hard to provide the best for their children and each other. Even when that meant working multiple jobs to cover unexpected medical expenses, or switching jobs despite pay cuts to be close to home to care for his kids when his loving wife was bedridden and fighting for her life. They have always had each other’s backs and undying affection. They have stuck together through joyfully thick and unbearably thin times. In 2010, when their youngest died, they fought to hold each other and their family together. As if that wasn’t hard enough, Dad had 2 strokes in 2012. But despite the doctors telling him he’d never fully recover, he has. Determined and dependable he has always fought to put his family first and now we are fighting for him. 

(Celebrating Dad's Birthday visiting lighthouses in 2019)

As a man, he has served his community well. Not only has he held a position on the Church Advisory Boards for two local congregations, and served as Deacon at both, but his leadership skills are highly esteemed in the Boy Scouts of America. He was a Boy Scout troop leader for 13 years and the troop he started produced 20 Eagle Scouts. He ran the Northeast Georgia Council Scout Show for 10 years, taught for the National Youth Leadership program for 2 years, served on the Wood Badge training staff for 7 years, and was the Wood Badge Course Director in 2013. He was elected President of the Oldtimers in 2014. He was the Eagle Board Director for the Sweetwater District of the Northeast Georgia Council for 10 years, overseeing more than 1,000 Eagle Board of Reviews. He served as District Training Chair for 4 years, served on District Committee for over 14 years and served as Vice Chairman of the Sweetwater District. During his impressive 30+ years of Scouting, his leadership earned the District Award of Merit, the Silver Beaver Award, 2 Scouter’s Keys, and the District Legends Award. An Eagle Scout himself, Dad raised 3 Eagle Scouts and is proudly watching two of his grandsons follow in his footsteps.

The influence he has had on his community is extraordinary, but his family is still his heart. Desiring the best for his grandchildren, he jumped at the opportunity for what he likes to call “Granddaddy Daycare.” Due to his kindness and passion for family, his youngest grandchildren have never been in public daycare. He didn’t stop there. When the decision was made to homeschool them, he volunteered to help take “Granddaddy Daycare” to the next level. So, after retiring as the top salesman from a large window manufacturer and an impressive BSA career, Dad has taken on yet another inspiring endeavor, as a teacher. He is helping homeschool his two youngest grandchildren by teaching Bible, Community Helpers and History—his favorite. The impact he has had on the next generation is irreplaceable and must continue!

(Family Beach Trip)

In case you are not familiar with kidney disease, here are the basics. There are five stages of kidney disease. To determine what stage kidney disease you have, your doctor performs a blood test to check your glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The GFR measures how much blood the kidneys filter each minute, recorded as milliliters per minute (mL/min). As the GFR declines, so does your kidney function. When your kidneys are no longer able to work at a level that's necessary for day-to-day life, you have end-stage renal disease. This is why kidney failure is also called end-stage renal disease, or ESRD for short.  Symptoms include, fatigue, drowsiness, decrease in urination or inability to urinate, dry skin, itchy skin, headache, weight loss, nausea, bone pain, skin and nail changes, easy bruising, and trouble breathing. ESRD usually occurs when kidney function is less than 10 percent of normal. Dad’s recent GFR was 7. Solutions are dialysis, transplantation, or the regenerative treatment approach. Dad is no longer a dialysis candidate, and although he is meeting with a transplant team next week, single kidney transplant runs upwards of $250,000 and it usually takes three years to find an available donor match. Regenerative medicine holds the potential to fully heal damaged tissues and organs, offering solutions and hope for people who have conditions that today are beyond repair. Delivering specific types of cells or cell products to diseased tissues or organs, promotes restoration of the tissue and organ function. Stem cell therapy cost can range anywhere between $5000 - $50,000.

Dad needs to undergo regenerative treatment immediately.

Again, he will receive a series of stem cell treatments at a clinic on the other side of the country as quickly as possible, so we need your help to cover the expense of the treatments, estimated at $40,000.

For people with kidney disease, this TREATMENT CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE IN LIFE AND DEATH. 

HELP US SAVE HIS LIFE PLEASE!! 

(Field trip to the Ark and Creation Museum in 2019)

  (Mom & Dad 2013)


(Snow fun with the boys a few years ago)
 

(Forever a family man)