Brenda Needs a Kidney

Hi friends, family, and future fundraiser donors,

My name is Carol MacLeod and I'm setting up this to fundraiser so one of my best friends, Brenda Wagner, can get a kidney transplant.

Before getting into Brenda’s story, I’d like to talk about the cost of a kidney transplant. Like many things in today’s world, kidney transplants are horrendously expensive. The average transplant in America today costs around $442,500. That’s more than the average American can afford, even with insurance. The number listed is the complete cost of the transplant, finding a donor and their healthcare during this time, the post-transplant care, the 30 days before transplant, the required drugs and the doctor overseeing your care during your transplant. However, that does NOT cover time off work, any medical deductibles, any incidentals like hotels rooms, food or travel, and a host of other things, including a 6 week stay after the transplant within 30 minutes of the transplant hospital. No one should be crippled by medical costs in this country, but many are and need the help of others to get the medical care they require.

Brenda has worked hard all her life and continues to work a full-time job. She is fun loving and tries to make sure everyone around her is happy as well as them having a good time. After her mother passed away, she watched over her elderly father as well as her own family. When no one was able to care for her ailing Father during Covid, she took the job acting as his Hospice nurse. Once he was placed in a nursing home, she came to visit almost daily. Currently, she’s working at a veterinary hospital where she loves working with the animals and other employees there. At home, her large family includes 3 sons, 2 stepchildren, a daughter-in-law, her husband of over 30 years, two dogs and a menagerie of cats.

While no one really knows why Brenda went into kidney failure, it is thought that high blood pressure during her three pregnancies when she was younger is the main culprit. She has always maintained a positive attitude and has never let this get her down or upset. She has had many days off so far this year and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses her insurance doesn’t even begin to cover. These OOP expenses are fast approaching $20k and will rise as the transplant day comes closer.

Brenda has had all the pre-operative and kidney transplant screenings. She is currently on the robotic transplant list. She does have a live-donor volunteer who is in the process of getting their screenings done to see if they are a match. And yes, Brenda will be responsible for her donor’s expenses as well. While Brenda’s insurance should cover 60-80% of her and her donor's expenses, sometimes they take a while to approve and pay for items thus requiring her to make payment arrangements until they do. They also cover NO incidentals whatsoever as previously stated. But like all insurances, they can be finicky and may not approve some expenses at all.

We know the total amount of requested funding seems astronomical, but it is achievable. We want to make it clear exactly what this funding will be used for:

• Medical expenses not covered by insurance.

• General living expenses due to time off work for both pre-op and post-op periods

• As previously mentioned, post-op recovery also requires living for an extended time, approximately 6 weeks, within 30 minutes of the transplant hospital. This hospital is about 100 miles from Brenda’s home, and someone will need to stay with her 24/7 during this time. That person may need unpaid time off or incidentals not included elsewhere.

We plan to post weekly updates to keep all fundraiser donors informed of what is happening with Brenda and her quest for a kidney.

Please share this far and wide on your social media or other ways to help us get as much exposure as possible. We’d also like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for even considering this fundraiser.

Carol MacLeod