I never thought our lives would have revolved around hospitals, machines, and waiting but the last few years that is what our reality has been.

my husband Roberts been a T1 Diabetic for over twenty years. His body’s been fighting nonstop and in 2022 it finally reached a breaking point. He went into End Stage Renal Failure and has since been dependent on Dialysis. It’s kept him alive but has taken his strength, his energy, his independence, his time and a lot of his joy.

Dialysis isn’t living, it’s just surviving. It’s watching the person you love being exhausted and sick and defeated more every days. It’s long days of appointments, treatments and nights of restless sleep and fears of how much worse it could get. It’s planning life around treatments and appointments, missing milestones and just trying to find the smallest joys to out weigh everything else.

It is struggling to make ends meet and risks of losing work, it’s not being able to do anything to help ease the pain, not being able to make it better.

Over nearly four years I have seen this vibrant person who just wanted to cook and explore life lose more and more of themselves. Alive, but not able to truly live.

for years, we’ve been waiting, holding our breaths. Having to push through moments where hope seemed dangerous because the disappointment hurt too much.

For years, we have lived in survival mode.

Christmas Day of 2025, everything changed.

He got the call.

Surrounded by his family on a day already symbolizing miracles, we were told Robert had been matched for a dual pancreas and kidney transplant.

I can’t even put into words how that moment felt. So many emotions and most of all overwhelming gratitude all at once.

After years of fighting just to stay alive, he’s finally given the chance at a future without dialysis.

A chance at life.

After nearly 8 hours in surgery the transplant was initially successful, The doctors say the transplant went as expected, but the next few days are critical. His body now has to accept these organs, and that means constant monitoring, labs, and medications.

This is not the finish line—it’s the beginning of a very hard recovery.

Transplant doesn’t mean the struggle is over.

Recovery is brutal and long. He’ll be on anti rejection medications for the rest of his life. Medications that are absolutely necessary - but incredibly expensive. He will need constant labs, follow ups, monitoring and care to protect these organs. Even with insurance the costs can be overwhelming.

During this time I’ll have to step away from work more often as his caregiver. This means limited income while our bills continue and increase.

Medical expenses, prescriptions, transportation and costs of living don’t stop when your worlds turning upside down.

I’ve done everything I can to keep us afloat with the help of our family. Asking for help is not something that comes easily to us. The truth is, we can’t do this alone.

The world sucks in so many ways right now and we know so many people are struggling in someway.

If you’re able to donate, share, or even just read this and hold space for us, it means more than I can say.

Every dollar helps to relieve a little pressure so I can focus on his care and help him heal instead of worrying how we’ll make it financially.

Robert has fought for his life for so many years. This transplant is his second chance. It’s our second chance for more time. We’re doing everything we can to protect it.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring. Thank you for helping us through the hardest chapter of our lives.

—Laura