Chastain's Liver Donation Fundraiser

Our family is about to begin a very scary, yet exciting journey! All the testing is complete and in late October my husband, Chastain will be donating a large portion of his liver to our friend, Scarlet. We first met Scarlet about 6 years ago through her brother, Jordan, who is also a firefighter. Their entire family is a second family to us.  Fun fact, two of Scarlet's brothers, her nephew and her Dad are/were firefighters!   So now the details....Chastain will be living in Rochester, NY for almost a month while he recovers from surgery. The surgery is pretty significant, it's 6-8 hours and he will be in the hospital a week (part of which will be in ICU). Because both of Chastain's jobs require him to have no job restrictions he will be out of work for 6 months. The fire department is graciously allowing fellow firefighters to work Chastain's shifts so hopefully this loss will be minimal. Insurance should pay for the surgery and medical expenses but insurance does not cover our flights, lodging, rental car, etc. (He will also have 5 follow up appointments in NY over the next 2 years.) We cannot financially gain from this process so all funds not used to cover approved costs like : travel, flights, lodging, food, rental car, parking fees, tolls, childcare, lost wages, insurance premiums, etc. will be donated to charity. To be completely transparent, here is our current estimate of expenses: Lodging in Rochester for nearly a month will be a minimum of $2,000 to $3,000. Flights still left to book for Chastain and me will be approximately $1,500. The 5 follow-up visits over the next 2 years will be approximately $2,500. Because I will still be working I will have to fly back and forth and we will need others to fly up to assist in Chastain's care. That cost is unknown at this time. Rental Car/Gas/Parking/Tolls for nearly a month will be around $1,250. Food because we will be in a hotel - approximately $1,000 Out of work 6 months from Job 1- Unknown at this time.  Hopefully Chastain's shifts will be covered by his coworkers.   Out of work 6 months from Job 2 - Approximately 2,000.