Emily’s Health Journey

My name is Emily Peters. I’m 42, married to Jason for 22 years,  mom to Zack 21, Brendan 20, Micheal 18, Griffin 13, Allison 12, and Matthew 10.  I’m also a new grandma to a precious baby girl. In April of 2018 I was diagnosed with FSGS, which is a kidney disease. Over the course of this year my kidney function has dropped down to just 14% and I am now preparing for dialysis and hopefully a living donor transplant. I live in Northern Michigan but will have to travel back and forth to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for various appointments. This is a 5 hour trip for me. I’m a stay-at-home Mom and my husband works in construction. Each time I travel the gas alone is $140 and Jason loses a days wage ($160). I’m not a person who likes to ask for help, but this is a time in my life I need help. I am asking for help to pay for my travel expenses, i.e gas. I’m anticipating at least 3 more trips to U of M before the end of the year. I will also start dialysis in the next 6 weeks and that will mean 3 days per week driving 25 miles each time. I’m hoping to find a match quickly for a new kidney, but in the mean time I don’t want to have to choose betweeen buying groceries for my family or putting gas in my tank to get to all of my appointments. Any donation will be greatly appreciated and will take some of the stress off of my shoulders. I’m already feeling like a burden to my family as my ability to function on a daily basis is greatly reduced due to the end stage renal failure. Thank you in advance for your support