Greetings Friends,

After hearing a story so compelling, I decided to jump in! Noah Baker was a healthy young cowboy. He went fishing with his grandpa Bobby for his 13th birthday. That would be April 18, 2021. When he came home, he was puffy and barely able to see out of his eyes. His mom thought he was severely dehydrated from fishing on the river, so she took him to the ER, thinking they would give him some IV fluids. When the testing was done, they said they would have to airlift him to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital. After being at Children’s Hospital for several days, they diagnosed him with nephrotic syndrome. They prescribed some medication to help the condition, which his body did not respond to. Later that year, they diagnosed him with minimal change nephrotic syndrome. In 2024, they said he has kidney failure, and they needed to remove one kidney and try to choke down the other to stop allowing the protein and blood to escape through his urine. After taking his kidney, they put him on dialysis. That did not work as expected.

Short story, they needed a kidney donor. Like any loving father, his dad Joe stepped up and donated a kidney that will be removed and transplanted into his son on June 24th in Portland. The family is a ranch family where everyone pitches in. Joe and Heather, their three daughters, and grandparents have all stepped up. Joe has been the primary breadwinner for their household for many years, and he will be confined to recuperate from this invasive surgery for several months. Y'all know me well enough to know that I don't ask lightly or without vetting the sources of the information. Our life group has been praying for Noah and the Baker Family now for over a year. They have weathered the storms, fire, and flooding in Eastern Oregon like champs. They neither complain nor ask for help; instead, they pray and work... really hard!

I am asking us to come together to support this family in their time of greatest need. Nothing got to me more than the thought of a man giving a vital organ to his son. Let's help them out during what will be a really long haul! Thanks in advance!