Hi, everyone. I’m J-Ann Lego, a Filipino biomedical PhD student hailing from Iloilo City, and currently based in Germany. If you know me in person, I actually find it difficult to be this vulnerable to the public (who doesn’t?). But a child’s love for their mother is unconditional. And the truth now is that my mother, Katherine Lego, needs a functional kidney, but my family is still seeking the financial resources to make it happen. Thus, I am raising funds to support the kidney transplant of my dearest mother back in the Philippines.

Eleven years ago, my mother was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy - an autoimmune disease that leads to the build-up of the protein IgA in the kidneys, causing inflammation that over time reduces the filtering capacity of the kidneys. In such a chronic kidney disease, waste and excess water that should be removed from the blood are not properly filtered out and instead remain in the body. This leads to hematuria (blood in the urine), proteinuria (proteins in the urine), edema (swelling of the hands and feet), and many other complications.

There is no cure for this disease, there is only slowing it down.

Since then, my mother has gone through different rounds of medications, diet and lifestyle changes (together with the whole family) in order to slow down the progression. But just like any other person whose life is suddenly given a time frame, it was (and still is) a difficult and painful journey for my mother.

It is never easy seeing your loved one suffer. And although we are very fortunate and grateful to have come this far since the diagnosis, there is no way of stopping the inevitable. Just as time kept flowing, her condition kept worsening - in 2021, she was dangerously close to end-stage kidney disease, where only ~18% of her kidneys are functioning. It is only a matter of time before her kidneys fail (<15%). At this point, there was only two options: routine dialysis to help the kidneys filter out waste and excess water, or a kidney transplant. But because of the pandemic, transplant and dialysis centers in the Philippines were working at limited capacity, if not closed. We had to be extra careful not only to prevent my mother from COVID-19 infection, but also to prolong her independence from dialysis as much as we can. Around August 2022, my mother started undergoing weekly dialysis because of her worsening condition. It was never smooth sailing, with minor complications and emergency room visits happening every now and then during her dialysis sessions, but she always pulled through.

Our kind, beautiful, and strong mama always pulled through.

What’s not immediately obvious is that dialysis is a long and invasive procedure, that when done frequently and for over a long period of time, affects the patient’s quality of life. For 3-4 hours once to three times a week, my mother is attached to a device that filters her blood for her and administers the “clean” blood back to her bloodstream. Not only is this procedure painful, but it is also not sustainable because eventually, the kidneys will fail, and no amount of dialysis can help it.

Then suddenly two weeks ago, my mother had a heart attack. She was in the ICU for several days to have her heart monitored and an underlying pneumonia infection treated. Fortunately, the doctors found no major blockage in her heart, maintaining her eligibility for a kidney transplant. Since her situation is getting worse as time passes despite undergoing dialysis, we only have one other option left to save her life: a kidney transplant.

On behalf of my family, I am asking for any kind of support that you can extend to us in these trying times. The minimum overall expenses for a kidney transplant at a government hospital in the Philippines is estimated at Php 1.2 million (~20.000,00 Euro). This includes costs for patient and donor pre-transplantation tests, medications, the transplantation surgery, hospital stay, transportation, and follow-up check-ups for both patient and donor. Pre-transplantation tests include blood typing, tissue typing, and cross-matching, among others. Medication expenses, besides the maintenance drugs, mostly include post-transplantation immunosuppression medications, which are critical in determining the success of a transplant. Since the hospital is located in the capital city, we will also have to spend on transportation and accommodation for 3 months to accommodate all necessary pre-transplantation tests, the surgery itself, and recovery period. Naturally, we are also seeking help from other sources - best believe we are trying our best in all fronts. But in this case, any kind of help extended to us is an act much loved and appreciated. If you reached this far, I sincerely thank you for your time.

I will continue to post updates on this cause and how my mother is doing.

Indeed, there is no love like a mother’s. My hope is that we all get to experience our mother’s love for as long as we can, and be able to return the love for as much as we can.

Again, thank you all so much.