Hi, my name is Kylie and my best friend is an amazing human who is donating her kidney to her mom. She is a small business owner who needs help during the time of surgery/post op as she will not be able to work for several months. She has writing her story out down below, please take some time to read and help if you can. Thank you!

Cori:

My mom has had poly cystic kidney disease for 21 years.

It’s a hereditary disease that varies in how slowly or quickly your kidneys will fail.

When her choice to adopt me as a baby came knocking on her door- I’m sure it was a sigh of relief that her baby won’t have the same disease without a cure.

Her progression has been slow throughout the years- with her health always being pretty moderate.

I never noticed that my mom was “sick” until I was maybe in high-school and the one time she was at a soccer tournament and has to get taken away in an ambulance- dang kidney stones.

Most of my life she has been a resilient tough cookie: the best single mom, lead Girl Scouts, shopped for all school dance dresses, was on the national dental association board, and showed up with love and joy in every aspect of her life.

In 2020 my moms health took a big jump down, her kidneys were failing faster and at a pace more aggressive than they had for her entire life.

My mom and dad made the move out of California for many reasons, but in Nevada where waiting for a kidney on a transplant list would be less saturated and her chances would be higher.

We started the conversation of who would get tested in order to give my mom a kidney then.

With my mom adopting me and not having any biological children, full blooded siblings, and older parents- chances were slim for a strong match.

When I made the choice to get texted to be a match to the women who adopted me and I feel so lucky to call mom it just made sense.

Finding out we were a match seriously was one of the best days of my life!!!

Knowing she won’t have to wait on a list for years holding out hope for another chance of life. She won’t be spending hours each day in a dialysis clinic and hoping that relief is near, is exactly what my family hoped for someone so selfless.

Now with this comes the crashing reality.

I am self employed, i own a hair salon where I have hundreds of people counting on me.

I will need anywhere from 8-12 weeks to recover from my open nephrectomy. I will need to travel to Nevada from California.

I pay for my health insurance out of pocket, I don’t have sick time or support from the state.

While I am out of work donating my kidney to my mom, I have to financially support myself and that means so much more for someone who owns their own business.

You can begin to be financially prepared for kids, a wedding, or even buying your first home- but dropping everything to take months out of your life isn’t something you exactly budget for.