Brett’s journey to a kidney transplant w/ CIDP
Donation protected
In late 2013 Brett was diagnosed with a kidney disease called IGA Nephropathy. Unfortunately there were really no symptoms of the disease and it had been undetected for an estimated 10 years or more.
This disease is when one set of your antibodies recognizes another set of your antibodies as something foreign to you. They continue to “fight off” your own antibodies (unsuccessfully). This process creates inflammation in the kidneys. When that inflammation is left untreated or undetected it ultimately causes scarring of your kidneys. This type of damage is mirrored and affects both kidneys at the same time in the same way.
Upon having a biopsy done to see how far advanced his condition was, they found that his kidneys were already nearly 60% scarred over. That changed our “does he need a transplant?” to “when will he need a transplant?”
As of about January this year we found his “when”. Brett is currently functioning at about 8%. He is having his first surgery on Monday, June 03. During this surgery he had a catheter placed in his abdomen so that he can begin peritoneal dialysis. He will continue dialysis daily until he is able to find a donor match and have a successful kidney transplant. Upon starting dialysis Brett began having symptoms of weakness in his legs with neuropathy in his feet. Those symptoms evolved into literally not being able to stand without assistance or walk without assistance. He is currently having to use a wheelchair almost completely. These symptoms have been diagnosed as side effects from a COMPLETELY SEPARATE autoimmune disease called CIDP. This is a disease where your immune system attacks the nerves in your body. The body has essentially destroyed the myelin sheath (or insulating cover) of the nerve. This causes the inability to walk or climb up or down stairs. Also causing muscle atrophy in his legs. He has had some progression to his hands and arms. We are hoping we can stop the disease there so that it does not move further up the body causing increasingly dangerous paralysis. This should not affect his ability to transplant but he will be reevaluated upon matching of a kidney donor.
We want to thank everyone that has supported us throughout these past 6 years. We want to thank all of you that have so selflessly offered to donate. No words could ever express our gratitude for each and every one of you.
We created this page so that you can stay updated on his journey and see his progress. We have gone through this particular site so that those of you that are able to donate can and for those of you that can’t, might be able to share this with friends and family. This site will remain open before, during, and after his transplant to also help cover the costly medications that he will require for his lifetime.
We appreciate you taking the time to hear his story and to share it with others.
Love,
Brett, Sadey + family
This disease is when one set of your antibodies recognizes another set of your antibodies as something foreign to you. They continue to “fight off” your own antibodies (unsuccessfully). This process creates inflammation in the kidneys. When that inflammation is left untreated or undetected it ultimately causes scarring of your kidneys. This type of damage is mirrored and affects both kidneys at the same time in the same way.
Upon having a biopsy done to see how far advanced his condition was, they found that his kidneys were already nearly 60% scarred over. That changed our “does he need a transplant?” to “when will he need a transplant?”
As of about January this year we found his “when”. Brett is currently functioning at about 8%. He is having his first surgery on Monday, June 03. During this surgery he had a catheter placed in his abdomen so that he can begin peritoneal dialysis. He will continue dialysis daily until he is able to find a donor match and have a successful kidney transplant. Upon starting dialysis Brett began having symptoms of weakness in his legs with neuropathy in his feet. Those symptoms evolved into literally not being able to stand without assistance or walk without assistance. He is currently having to use a wheelchair almost completely. These symptoms have been diagnosed as side effects from a COMPLETELY SEPARATE autoimmune disease called CIDP. This is a disease where your immune system attacks the nerves in your body. The body has essentially destroyed the myelin sheath (or insulating cover) of the nerve. This causes the inability to walk or climb up or down stairs. Also causing muscle atrophy in his legs. He has had some progression to his hands and arms. We are hoping we can stop the disease there so that it does not move further up the body causing increasingly dangerous paralysis. This should not affect his ability to transplant but he will be reevaluated upon matching of a kidney donor.
We want to thank everyone that has supported us throughout these past 6 years. We want to thank all of you that have so selflessly offered to donate. No words could ever express our gratitude for each and every one of you.
We created this page so that you can stay updated on his journey and see his progress. We have gone through this particular site so that those of you that are able to donate can and for those of you that can’t, might be able to share this with friends and family. This site will remain open before, during, and after his transplant to also help cover the costly medications that he will require for his lifetime.
We appreciate you taking the time to hear his story and to share it with others.
Love,
Brett, Sadey + family
Organizer and beneficiary
Kody Donald Dunn
Organizer
Mapleton, UT
Sadey Lee
Beneficiary
