<div>Hello, my name is Jose Salcedo Jr. and I am 42 years of age.
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<div>I am a dialysis patient and will be receiving a live donor kidney for my transplant, through the grace of God my dearest younger sibling Sarah Bonilla has undergone the vigorous vetting approval process to help her brother with a second chance at a better quality of life.
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<div>I was first diagnosed with FSGS Nephrotic syndrome in 1997, at the time not much was known about how to treat the disease. At the early age of 16 years old, I started my first medical regimen of taking medications to maintain my daily high blood pressure, my doctors warned me that this illness was unpredictable, and they couldn’t predict the outcome of how this disease would carry out. I then informed my doctor of my family’s medical history.
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<div>My symptoms started gradually including swelling around the eyes and in the feet and ankles, foamy urine, and weight gain due to excess fluid retention. Fast forward to the year 2014, I had an accident that accelerated a severe flare-up of my FSGS and I went into Rhabdomyolysis which is the breakdown of muscle tissue. It results in the
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<div>release of a protein, called myoglobin, into the blood. Myoglobin further damaged the kidneys causing scar tissue and syst. Symptoms include dark, reddish urine, a decreased amount of urine, muscle aches, and
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<div>weakness.
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<div>I was dying and I needed immediate dialysis, I was rushed into surgery and a hemodialysis port was placed in my heart to receive treatment immediately. The muscle tissue damage was so severe that it ate away at my muscle mass and was extremely painful. My hospital stay was one
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<div>month in the ICU and one week in a private patient room. I was then released to a live-in
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<div>retirement home to learn how to walk and talk all over again and this process took several
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<div>months and years of therapy. I was the youngest resident to ever reside at the rehabilitation residency.
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<div>After one year I was taken off hemodialysis treatment and I was able to manage my FSGS Nephrotic syndrome with several medications by pill and multiple continued follow-up doctor’s appointments. My linguistics and motor skills slowly returned with continued therapy leaving me
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<div>with drop-foot on both feet, so I no longer have the ability to rotate my ankles and have severe neuropathy causing me trouble while walking or standing in a single spot for more than 5 minutes at a time. Doctors called my dialysis condition acute not needing a transplant because I
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<div>went from stage 5 renal failure to stage 3, then over time to stage 2.
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<div>The year 2015, Two months after getting off hemodialysis, my father starts hemodialysis.
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<div>Fast forward, 8 years pass us, and I have continued to stay active and maintain my medication regimen with a continued stage 2 renal failure but a semi-comfortable/normal lifestyle.
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<div>The year is 2019, we have a world pandemic of the Coronavirus, I am now a Human Resources professional and an essential worker who worked throughout the pandemic. For the sake of time,
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<div>I caught the virus twice at work which flared up my FSGS Nephrotic syndrome and progressed to renal failure stage 4. 
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<div>The first-time contracting C-19 landed me in the emergency for a
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<div>long visit, and the second time contracting C-19 was after hiring a new member of our department, we had a shared office with tight quarters. This accelerated my condition to a level 5 end stage of complete kidney failure.
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<div>My mother ended up having breast cancer surgery on 12/12/2019 and I continue assisting both my parents through this process. (Breast cancer follow-up radiation treatment, appointments,
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<div>financial, etc.). On January 1st, 2021, my father caught COVID-19 and was rushed to the emergency, no one was allowed to enter the hospital with him. January 2nd, 2021, our father’s nurse called us to inform us that he passed away a mere 20 minutes after we spoke to him over the phone laughing and joking saying he couldn’t wait to come back home. A sudden tragic loss to the Salcedo family, leaving behind his beloved high
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<div>school sweetheart of 40 years, 5 children, and 16 grandchildren. My family froze and I had to step in as the eldest son and sibling of the Salcedo family and take charge of planning our father’s funeral and dealing with all the life insurance, FEMA documentation, and funeral home arrangements all while trying to keep it together struggling with my own stage 5 renal failure.
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<div>After recovering from C-19, I remained at a stage 5 renal failure and continued working until one morning my blood pressure catapulted to 245/124 landing me back in ICU and back on
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<div>dialysis ultimately losing my high-level position at work and ultimately costing me my dream job.
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<div>The year is 2023 and I am finally on the national kidney registry, this is a vetted process that takes time to get approval to be placed on the list. My younger sister Sarah Bonilla came back as a match and against my better judgment finally convinced me to let her donate her kidney to me.
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<div>This amazing news is bittersweet, I have been out of work for a long time and have been supplementing my life savings to cover my monthly expenses for my mother and myself for over 18 months. My organ transplant is this June 2024 and post-transplant is extremely expensive.
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<div>The worst part is that I have finally exhausted all my financial resources!! ☹
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<div>At the early age of 14 years old, I became employed because I came from a large family and money was hard to come by, it built my character and I learned to appreciate the simple pleasures in life for we were raised by two very humble parents, I continued gainful employment
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<div>my entire life and never asked for a handout.
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<div>I am here before you today, and I am struggling as I write this explaining my story in hopes that someone out there with a kind and open heart understands the difficulties that I have endured beyond my control. I am pleading that if you made it this far reading my story, I pray that you
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<div>have the utmost compassion and would be so generous as to please donate to my cause and I would be so eternally grateful.
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<div>I have always been my family’s savior, only this time it’s me who needs the assistance to save myself!
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<div>Anything will help, $10, $20, $30, etc. Anything! If you are a good person and would like to donate but can’t now that is ok, you can still help me reach my goal by sharing my GoFundMe story with all your friends and family and even your place of employment, anything will help.
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<div>Please help me spread my story.
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<div>Here is a list of some of the items the proceeds would be applied towards:
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<div>• The cost of my continued housing that is mandatory by the transplant team that I maintain to get my transplant done due to the severity of the continued sterile environment needed to be maintained post-transplant for months 2 – through – month 6.
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<div>• Utilities.
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<div>• Medications not covered by insurance.
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<div>• Payment of vehicle and insurance to be driven to my appointments.
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<div>• Nutrition is expensive and I have a specific diet regimen that I must follow that is costly.
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<div>• Miscellaneous monthly expenses. (Example: Toiletries, I will not be able to shower for the first month because of my incision)
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<div>• 1-month stay at a local (motel/hotel/Airbnb) near Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, the cheapest I have found is roughly $150.00 a night. (I must stay near the transplant center for one month to monitor the kidney function progress and have a second surgery to remove my dialysis port once the new kidney has shown that there are no
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<div>complications).
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<div>• Financial assistance costs in fuel to get me back and forth to my post-
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<div>op. appointments months 2 – 6, my caregiver will drive me from Manteca, CA. to Stanford Hospital for follow-ups with the transplant team in Palo Alto, CA.
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<div>If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Carla Carter the designated point of
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<div>contact. I am an open book and can answer any questions that you may have.
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<div>I just want a second chance at a better quality of life again, my dream is to go back to school and complete my master’s degree.
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<div>I wouldn’t wish what I am going through on anyone, this has been quite the plethora of highs and lows. Please help me in getting my message out there.  Thank you and may God Bless you all.
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<div>Kind regards,
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<div>Gratefully,
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<div>Jose Salcedo.
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Deanna Sanocki

Sheila m. green

nancy hernandez

Rachel Perez

Anonymous

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Katherine Allen

Heather Wiland

Andrea Vega

Jess Groom

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