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Help Sunny survive her Transplant

My mother, Sunny Luna, has been battling for her life ever since she was diagnosed with Lupus at age 17. My mom's lupus is unfortunately an aggressive form, and it rapidly attacked her kidneys, causing them both to fail in just a few short weeks after her diagnosis. At a time when the rest of her peers were preparing to graduate high school and go off to college, Sunny was instead getting put on donor lists, waiting for her new kidney. 


Any of you who know our family have seen the rollercoaster that Sunny and all of us have gone through for the last 25+ years. Multiple kidney transplant failures, a stroke several years ago, stays in the ICU, regular dialysis, and so on. There were multiple times we were told by doctors that she wasn’t going to make it. 


After Sunny’s third kidney transplant failed 6 years ago, we decided to get serious about finding the most state of the art transplant programs to ensure her a more successful transplant. We were fortunate to find exactly that at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. After years of waiting, and multiple rounds of immune antibody preparation treatments at Cedars, we got the call last week that they had a kidney that was a match and a very good candidate for success. We drove to Los Angeles in the middle of the night and waited for the call to confirm that the kidney made it safely. 


We are so happy to report that Sunny made it out of the surgery successfully and has been healing in the hospital the last few days. Things are looking good so far, but the journey is still not over. In order to ensure that this kidney will work, Sunny needs to continue getting rigorous treatments at Cedars-Sinai.


And this is where we need your help. Chris, my dad, will need to drive Sunny to Cedars in Los Angeles 2x a week for the first 2 months and then after that every week for 6 months. This requires him to take quite a bit of time off of work and take a hit on his income, endure transportation costs, and additionally we have quite a bit of medical expenses, insurance premiums, prescriptions needed, etc. 


As hard as it’s been for me to see my mom go through this all my life, I have been so inspired by her will to live and perseverance. In some way she lives a double life and is so active that many people don’t know how sick she actually is because she is such an active mother. She serves on the PTA board, volunteers as much as she can, and is always going to all of my events. Meanwhile, she was undergoing dialysis treatments 3 times a week and most days it was a struggle.

It would mean the world if you could contribute in any way possible. ANY amount makes a difference and will help support Sunny during this time. 


Please help us give her the life that she deserves and support her as she works to survive her kidney transplant.
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Donations 

  • Christina Keller
    • $25 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Christopher Luna Jr.
Organizer
Visalia, CA

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