A Kidney For My Dad

Where can a girl begin when describing to the world who her life-long hero is? The man who loved her first as he held his baby girl in his arms for the first time. The man who encouraged her to be strong and that all boys have germs. The man who created a spontaneous father-daughter dance almost every week in the kitchen while making dinner. The man who has been her example, confidant, support team, body guard, personal comedian, shoulder to cry on, and main sense of security throughout her entire life…where do you begin? You see, in my eyes, my dad is the strongest man I will ever know. But in November, on his 54th birthday we found out that his strength is about to be tested in every possible way. On November 29th, my dad was told that his kidney’s, working together function at a rate of 15%. Six weeks later, they digressed to 14% capacity. He has now been referred to the Transplant team and his name is in the process of being put on the transplant list. All I keep thinking is… “This can’t be happening!”

I grew up watching both of my parents work to the point of exhaustion. Often at times, both parents had 2 full-time jobs just to make ends meet. My dad worked 2 full-time jobs most of my entire life and I can’t remember one time where I ever heard him complain how tired he was. He just did it.

I am reaching out to the community for help. The tests are starting and reality is starting to hit all of us hard. My mom deserves to be by my dad’s side throughout this whole process. She deserves to be there to support and love her husband and he deserves to not be in this alone or feel guilty that he can't be out there working along side her. I want to do everything in my power to help make that happen. Any donation will be given to my parents to help pay for the medical bills that are coming their way as we, as a family plan and prepare for what is coming and begin the long journey to recover from the future kidney transplant that we are all praying happens. Please donate what you can and help my parents stay in this together. Thank you!!!