Andrew's Medical Needs

Story

Andrew is a 31 year old young man who has had quite a journey in his short life! Andrew, born with kidney problems is a husband to Danielle and father of two young boys. He is a fun loving, tender hearted, and strong man. His life is an example of preserverance. Here is why: He was born with a displastic kidney, which means at birth, one kidney only formed to a ball of flesh while the other worked at 75%. He was told he would need a transplant by the time he was 5, but he beat the odds and didn't end up needing one until 2002, when he was 18. His first transplant took place two weeks after graduating from high school and the kidney was donated by his high school English teacher.   His first transplant offered so much hope, however it did not thrive . His body started to reject the kidney. After becoming very sick, his wife took him to the ER where he was immediately taken to the ICU. The kidney had died and was infecting the rest of his organs. They had to remove the failed kidney in 2007. Because of this, he needed to begin Hemodialysis. He was extremely grateful for dialysis, but desparately needed another kidney. While dialysis is a wonderful medical treatment, it does not offer a ton of flexibility and is not ideal for living life to it's fullest! While on dialysis, he was put on the donor list for a new kidney. On Valentines Day,  four years later,  he received his 2nd kidney transplant. Hope was offered once again in the form of a kidney! This kidney seemed to be working well, but was not a good fit and only lasted until November 2014 when it failed once again. The doctors and surgeons could not figure out what was causing the kidnesy to fail so quickly after being transplanted. Many kidney transplants have been known to last for 20-30 years! He resumed dialysis treatments until once again in May of 2015, he was offered hope with a 3rd kidney. When they opened him up to put the kidney in, doctors noticed abnormalities in his abdomen and were unable to complete the transplant. Because of these abnormalities, doctors told him he would never be able to receive another kidney transplant due to this abnormality.This was devastating news to him and his family. He will need to be on dialysis for the rest of his life. His story is sad indeed, but he continues to PRESS ON because his faith is on a strong foundation in the Lord.  His HOPE is not a TEMPORAL one, it is an ETERNAL one! Here is where he is now: He went home and started to get used to his new life with dialysis, but only weeks later, after becoming very ill, they found that he had a severe infection in his abdominal cavity where the catheter was placed  for peritoneal dialysis. On July 4th, 2015, they once again opened him up and removed the infected cath to clean up the infection. Because of all time spent in the hospital, especially over the last few months, he and his family have a great deal of financial need. With missing work and medical bills piling up, their need is close to $10,000. We would like to try and help by sharing this need and helping his sweet family. If you read this and your heart broke, you can do something to encourage him and his family. You can GIVE!