UPDATE

Kirby is now in his 2nd week in ICU. SINCE 6/6/2023. This is his 5th hospitalization and 3rd in the ICU. Out of pocket costs are in excess of 25k. Please help Kirby and I if you can share and pray. Posted by his loving husband. ❤️ 

Kirby is a retired health care worker who was forced out of work after 36 years of service dedicated to caring for others. There is nothing Kirby would have enjoyed more than to be able to continue working in the job he loved, despite his medical struggles; but he was forced out of the workforce during the COVID pandemic due to his own high-risk medical condition.

Throughout his life and career, Kirby has always taken care of his own medical bills by working to support himself while he maintained a schedule requiring him to receive dialysis beginning at 3 times a week, then escalating over time to often 4 or 5 times per week. Eventually, Kirby and his partner of over 20 years, Michael, knew it was time to make the decision whether Kirby wanted to continue with the increasing ineffectiveness of dialysis, or request a transplant.

After 25 years on dialysis, Kirby had a kidney transplant on June 6, 2023.

Now that they are senior citizens on a fixed income, they are facing the long road to recovery after the transplant. Kirby’s post-op journey has been exacerbated with post-surgical and potential rejection complications. The unexpected medicals bills, after-care, physical therapy, and travel expenses have exceeded their planned budget. Their combined lifetime savings have finally been depleted by covering these expenses.

The next year is going to be exceptionally challenging and difficult; physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially.

“We can’t do it by ourselves this time”.

Michael and Kirby are navigating their way, but this time they will not be able to manage the financial shortfall on their own. They are humbly asking for an amount they feel confident that can get them through the coming year with all the unexpected expenses, including, but not limited to:

Three more additional trips per week to kidney transplant center located 30 min away.

The extra cost of required labs and travel to specified lab to acquire 3 times per week.

Medication cost increase by 50%; although they anticipate the expense will lessen as the year progresses.

Home-based Physical and Occupational Therapy to ensure a safe recovery

Compounding these expenses for Kirby are Michael’s ongoing medical treatments for spinal cord complications, and permanent monitoring of potential life-threatening GI issues.

“Our hope and desire are to have these last years together with a quality of health we have longed for through the long medical history we both have carried.”

At 64 and 70 years of age, Kirby and Michael have been by each other’s sides through thick and thin, and they are in a state of despair trying to imagine a life with an outcome, and one so different from the one they envisioned. With your generosity and support, Kirby and Michael will be able to maintain the level of care required to sustain Kirby’s health and well-being, so they have the opportunity to fulfill the commitment they have made to each other for the future.

On a personal note:   He is just my little brother, but I have looked out for him since he was 3. We lost our mother and grandmother 2 months apart as children and it’s been that way ever since.

If I could snap my fingers and give him all he needs myself…...but I don’t have it. I feel helpless, so I am asking --- please share what you can spare. Please share on your Facebook page. Please help them reach their goal so they can finally have a few years not strangled by the stress of how they going to manage. Kirby has spent his life helping others, connecting with his patients often over their lifetime. Even now he shares his long history with CKD on TikTok to help others navigate the emotional and mental obstacles it involves.

Please help my brother and his partner Michael.

Thank you,

Michelle Zuniga

SSgt, Retired, CA ANG