Christy's Road to Recovery Fund
Donation protected
My name is Christy Glacken and I am a wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend to many. I love life and my family and friends and the memories we make are one of the most precious gifts I cherish. Twelve years ago all that I loved was being challenged when I was diagnosed with kidney disease. I was heart broken and confused and knew I would have a tough and long journey ahead of me. With the support of my husband Tim, daughter Aubri, and the rest of our family and friends, we faced this ever growing disease head on. I began meeting with doctors at University of Maryland and was told that I would eventually have to have a kidney transplant.
When I had reached the point in my journey that it was time to be placed on "the list" for a kidney I contacted both University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins. The waiting game began. Four years ago I began dialysis and it started to consume my life. I was limited to the time I could spend with my family, the places that I could go, the normalcy of life. My quality of life was begining to be depleted. I knew that I wanted to be around for my husband, daughter and my new granddaughter so I continued to pray and explore every avenue possible to find a kidney. I was blessed to have an overwhelming amount of close family and friends and even some people I hardly knew get tested as a possible donor. Some were turned away quickly and few were able to make it longer in the process but none were working out. I DID NOT GIVE UP HOPE! I knew GOD had a plan.
On the morning of April 10, 2016 I received a phone call at 10am from Johns Hopkins. I was on my way to church and thought I'd have to pull over because I knew it was not possible that I was hearing what I thought I was hearing....they found a matching kidney? For me? A match? A kidney? Could this be happening? It was!!! I called my husband and we both cried tears of joy and spoke words of excitement. Although we had been down this road twice before only to be prepped and ready for surgery and at the last minute something fell through we knew something was different, it all felt so positive and different. This was the one! I continued on to church and was able to share my beautiful news with the pastor and congregation and everyone prayed for a successful surgery. On I went to Hopkins with my family in tow. We prayed for the watchful eyes of anesthesia, skilled hands of surgeons, and healing hearts of nurses. On Monday April 11 I was prepped and ready to go and headed down for surgery at 10:20. My surgery was over by 4:30 and my family was told that the surgery had went wonderfully, I would be on my road to recovery.
This is where I'm asking for support from all of you. Many have reached out wondering what they can do to help and after a long and difficult decision with my husband we knew that although we had the outpouring of love from our family and friends our biggest challenge was going to be financially. The road to recovery will be long and hard and I will need a lot of attention and watch. Tim will be my primary caregiver and my 24 hour a day nurse which in turn leaves him unable to work. I'm not sure how long I will be in the hospital and we have incurred many gas, parking, food, and travel expenses and I forsee there being many more in our near future. Once I'm released from the hospital we will have to travel back and forth from doctors and also the monthly expenses at home.
We are truly thankful for all the love and support we have received and all of this would not have been possible without the prayers that were sent. I've been given a new life, a new life to make more memories with my grandbaby and my husband and my daughter and son-in-law, my sisters, brother, parents, family and friends.
If you are able to make a contribution no matter the size please know how much it is appreciated. This road to recovery is possible because of the strength I gain from all of you!!
When I had reached the point in my journey that it was time to be placed on "the list" for a kidney I contacted both University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins. The waiting game began. Four years ago I began dialysis and it started to consume my life. I was limited to the time I could spend with my family, the places that I could go, the normalcy of life. My quality of life was begining to be depleted. I knew that I wanted to be around for my husband, daughter and my new granddaughter so I continued to pray and explore every avenue possible to find a kidney. I was blessed to have an overwhelming amount of close family and friends and even some people I hardly knew get tested as a possible donor. Some were turned away quickly and few were able to make it longer in the process but none were working out. I DID NOT GIVE UP HOPE! I knew GOD had a plan.
On the morning of April 10, 2016 I received a phone call at 10am from Johns Hopkins. I was on my way to church and thought I'd have to pull over because I knew it was not possible that I was hearing what I thought I was hearing....they found a matching kidney? For me? A match? A kidney? Could this be happening? It was!!! I called my husband and we both cried tears of joy and spoke words of excitement. Although we had been down this road twice before only to be prepped and ready for surgery and at the last minute something fell through we knew something was different, it all felt so positive and different. This was the one! I continued on to church and was able to share my beautiful news with the pastor and congregation and everyone prayed for a successful surgery. On I went to Hopkins with my family in tow. We prayed for the watchful eyes of anesthesia, skilled hands of surgeons, and healing hearts of nurses. On Monday April 11 I was prepped and ready to go and headed down for surgery at 10:20. My surgery was over by 4:30 and my family was told that the surgery had went wonderfully, I would be on my road to recovery.
This is where I'm asking for support from all of you. Many have reached out wondering what they can do to help and after a long and difficult decision with my husband we knew that although we had the outpouring of love from our family and friends our biggest challenge was going to be financially. The road to recovery will be long and hard and I will need a lot of attention and watch. Tim will be my primary caregiver and my 24 hour a day nurse which in turn leaves him unable to work. I'm not sure how long I will be in the hospital and we have incurred many gas, parking, food, and travel expenses and I forsee there being many more in our near future. Once I'm released from the hospital we will have to travel back and forth from doctors and also the monthly expenses at home.
We are truly thankful for all the love and support we have received and all of this would not have been possible without the prayers that were sent. I've been given a new life, a new life to make more memories with my grandbaby and my husband and my daughter and son-in-law, my sisters, brother, parents, family and friends.
If you are able to make a contribution no matter the size please know how much it is appreciated. This road to recovery is possible because of the strength I gain from all of you!!
Organizer and beneficiary
Danielle Lowe
Organizer
Stevensville, MD
Timothy Glacken
Beneficiary
