August Wolf

My wife and I are fundraising for our son, August Wolf, so he can receive a new kidney!

 

August was born with a rare genetic disease called Alport Syndrome. Alport attacks kidney function, hearing and vision. Four years ago, August began Peritoneal Dialysis. If anyone is familiar with this process, It’s a therapy that works while you sleep and can enable a patient to work during the day. Peritoneal is life-saving, but it is a lot of work. There is significant set-up, sterilization and lots of medical waste. For some reason, this therapy failed August. We don’t know why, so our only alternative is Hemodialysis. Unfortunately, this requires creating a "fistula" in the arm for needle access, and August has to go into a center three days a week for four-hour sessions. We are currently using a Davita Dialysis Center. For a 28-year-old, he’s always the youngest guy in the room.

 

This July, our daughter Emilie stepped forward and donated her kidney to the New York Presbyterian (or, as we would say, “Presby”) kidney exchange program. This program allows people to donate who are not a direct match to a family member. So her kidney went to another individual that day. August now goes directly to the top of the waitlist at Presby. It would take 5-8 years without Emilie's donation, sometimes even longer.

 

Because August lives in Florida, we are now moving him up to Connecticut so he can be close to the hospital. Unfortunately, because he is O-negative, there will be some wait time until they find a match. For some reason, Being O-neg allows you to give blood to anybody, but receiving a kidney is another story.

 

 Hemodialysis has been very difficult for August. In addition to having no kidney function, he has lost most of his hearing and has to wear a hearing aid; We believe that dialysis has caused Neuropathy in his feet, so it hurts when he walks. There are many facets of Alport Syndrome that make daily living challenging.

 

 The company he works for will let him work remotely, but the other issue is he has very little energy. Sometimes, just getting through the day is tough. So his income has dropped significantly.

 

We don’t know what to expect after his kidney transplant. We have been told that we will need to stay close to the hospital in Manhattan for quite some time (at minimum several weeks). Then, once his immunosuppressant medications have been balanced and work for him, we can take him home to Connecticut. But even then, he will need to go to Presby weekly until they determine he is stable enough to move back to Florida.

That could be for quite a while. Some of his most significant expenses will be costs associated with August's stay in Manhattan, medications, travel expenses, lost wages and any unforeseen complications.

 

August has lost most of his “twenties.” Our goal is to get him back to normalcy and have him enjoy his life again. We would be forever thankful if you could contribute to his GoFundMe account. If not, please pray that August's kidney transplant will be a success and he can live life to the fullest. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!