Hi everyone,

Some of y’all may have heard already, my brother Juan Manuel Bernal (Kaly) was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney disease and is being put on the transplant waitlist, God willing, this coming July 2025. He has spent some time in the hospital recently because his high blood pressure hasn’t been able to be controlled, and all the medications prescribed have made his kidney function decrease even more.

Juan is facing big physical and financial challenges at this time due to him being the only one working. Ruben’s health is not well either; he has diabetes and can’t work and hasn’t been able to get disability. If you know Kaly, he has always worked and been independent and never been comfortable asking for help, financial or otherwise, so I wanted help raise funds to help cover his treatment expenses and essential needs. 

Your support—whether it’s $1, $5, $10, or more—goes directly toward easing Kaly’s financial needs.

Any contribution would mean the world to him. We understand if you can’t, but please do us a big favor by sharing this.

Also, I wanted to add that the wait time for a deceased kidney donor on average is 5 years, so Kaly’s best chance of survival is finding a living donor. Once he is on the list and we have more information, we will share that with you. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is interested in becoming a living donor, please reach out to either myself, any of my other siblings, or to Kali.

Help me save my brother!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

- Mari

I’ll keep y’all updated!