Chris Vanatta’s fight against IgA Nephropathy

My name is Meghan Charles & I am Chris Vanatta’s sister. My brother has been fighting for his life for the last 16 years. On June 7th, 2006 Chris received the haunting diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. In simple terms, this means Chris’s antibodies are attacking his kidneys. There is no cure for this disease. He’s been on many different medications to try to slow the disease process, but in 2018, he went into full blown kidney failure. Fortunately, his best friend was kind enough to donate his kidney to Chris. Not long after the transplant we learned that Chris’s body was rejecting his new kidney. Chris has been doing everything he can to increase the lifespan of his kidney but unfortunately he is finding himself, once again, in kidney failure, and is awaiting a match for transplant.

On June 4th, Chris was admitted to the hospital for worsening symptoms of kidney failure and is having a central line placed for emergency dialysis. He is scheduled to have a fistula placed at the end of June and will then continue hemodialysis until he finds a donor.

Due to how exhausting and overall draining hemodialysis is to the body, Chris is unable to work full time. Chris has repetitively told me not to start this gofundme, but as his annoying little sister, I refuse to listen to him. He is the last person to ask for help, which is why I am doing this for him. The last thing he needs to worry about right now is finances, and I hope to take this unnecessary stress off his shoulders.

My brother is the best son, husband, father, brother, grandson, nephew & friend there is. We don’t know what we would do without him and we are doing everything we can to support him in his fight for his life.