My uncle Jesse has lived with Type 1 Diabetes since he was 13 years old. When he was growing up, doctors told him he probably wouldn’t live past 55. But Jesse quietly defied every prediction - not with fear or self-pity, but with gratitude, strength, and endless kindness.

He’s one of those rare people who never complains and never asks for anything. He’s calm, gentle, patient, and always focused on helping others. For over 30 years, he worked for the same small, family-owned civil engineering business. Loyal, dependable, and deeply loved by everyone who knows him. But, because of the progression of his Type 1 Diabetes and the wear on his kidneys, he had to medically retire and now works part-time from home, for himself.

Outside of work, Jesse and his wife, Laura-a Speech-Language Pathologist who helps children find their voices-have spent their free time volunteering for an organization that helps people in financial hardship. They would go into people’s homes, sit down with families, and comb through their finances to help them apply for assistance with food, utilities, or rent. That’s who Jesse is-someone who brings life wherever he can.

Two years ago, Jesse’s kidneys failed. Since then, he’s been on nightly peritoneal dialysis, a treatment that keeps him alive but is incredibly demanding. Every night before bed, he connects to a machine through a tube in his abdomen. For 10 hours, sterile dialysis fluid flows in and out of his body, filtering toxins, a vital function his kidneys can no longer do.

Every few weeks, large boxes of dialysis solution are delivered to Uncle Jesse’s home-enough to fill their guest bedroom’s closet and part of their bedroom. Everything must stay perfectly sterile. Jesse and Laura must completely sanitize their bathroom, shower head, water lines, and every surface in their house. Even their two beloved dogs must stay a careful distance away when he’s connected to the machine, because one small infection could be life-threatening.

It's exhausting, isolating, and fragile-yet Uncle Jesse never complains. His positivity never wavers. His quiet resilience and faith touch everyone who knows him.

And then, when hope felt far away, something miraculous happened. A woman from Colorado-a work friend of Laura’s-saw a post about Jesse online. She shared that she felt a calling in her heart to help him. She got tested—and she turned out to be a perfect match!

Now, Uncle Jesse has the once-in-a-lifetime chance at a normal life-a chance to wake up without being connected to machines, to travel with Laura, to take photos, to paint, and to simply live freely again.

The only thing standing in the way is money. Uncle Jesse is the kind of person who would quietly decide not to go through something if he couldn’t afford it, even if it could save his life. I can’t let that happen!

His donor will need to fly from CO and stay near the hospital in San Francisco. There are travel and lodging expenses, her lost wages while she recovers, Jesse’s travel for surgery and follow-up appointments, and the life-long medications he’ll need to prevent rejection.

This transplant isn’t just a surgery-it’s a miracle. After decades of quiet endurance and selflessness, Jesse has a chance at many more years of life.

If you can help, please do. Every single donation-big or small-brings him closer to the healthy, hopeful life he’s waited so long for. And if you can’t give, simply sharing his story means more to me and my family than you’ll ever know.