Kidney Warrior Gains Her Wings
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It is with extreme sadness that we announce the passing of Tanisha "Wee Wee" Walker. Tanisha was a woman of remarkable strength, courage and faith. She left a mark in this world and will be deeply missed. She touched the lives of so many and it’s our turn to give back to her family in their time of need. We are raising money to cover the costs of the funeral and memorial services as Tanisha’s passing was completely unexpected . She had suffered from Kidney disease for over 14 years. but she lost this battle due to COVID-19. While we are comforted in knowing that she is in a better place, the family needs help. Tanisha was a warrior and she remained strong even though she faced many adversities. Due her many pre existing conditions it was hard for her to obtain a life insurance policy. Please help by sending a donation to help cover her expenses.
Listed below is the story Tanisha wrote over a year ago about her battle with Kidney disease:
(this story was not corrected, as we pasted it from a email she had written before death)
In December 2006, I started swelling in my feet area, it was so hard to even put on a regular shoe. I would go shopping and try on clothes that would fit when I tried them but then I wouldn't be able to fit them the next day or two. Strange is what I thought about this situation but kinda over looked it. So weeks went on and the swelling would come and go then I noticed that the swelling wasn't just in my feet it was from my waist down. By this time devastated and worried I just didn't know what to do. Well I finally went to the doctor in Martinsville, VA where I was sent to a neurologist Dr. David Leflur . Here I went through a lot of testing and different questions I answered them truthfully and to the best of my ability, after the testing I was sent home until the results were in. After a while of waiting I received a call from his office saying everything looked good and he would try one more thing, which was a biopsy on my kidneys to see more into what was going on with me. The biopsy was set for February 28th 2007 in Martinsville, VA. I stayed in Martinsville that night and went to my appointment that morning. I left the appointment thinking that I would get some type of information about what was going on with my body. Then one day in the beginning of April I was given an appointment to come review the results. I went to this appointment so open minded and so care free not knowing I was about to get life changing, most devastating news of my whole life. When I get to my doctors office I'm told that I have a kidney disease by the name of FSGS. I sat there in shock, not knowing what to say because I was confused. I finally got myself together and asked my doctor to explain the disease and asked him what I needed to do. He explained the disease and let me know that Alonzo Mourning and Shaun Elliot were two known basketball players that had the same disease. Then he spoke with me about starting a steroid by the name of prednisone. I listened to him but sat there thinking about all the bad things I had heard about steroids I didn't want to take them, but I did want to get well. He also brought to my attention a clinical research study that was going on in Chapel Hill at UNC hospital. I was then enrolled into the study and started treatment, I remember sitting in the waiting room when breaking news about the VT shooting came across the TV. I was devastated, to see a person like myself so loving caring and kindhearted going through this. I just wanting to live, then an awful person on this screen killing people and himself. I thought to myself "Why had I been chosen to go through this instead of him?" But, later on in life I begin to think "why not me?"
As time went on I gained so much weight my appearance changed so much, I was embarrassed and ashamed. I never wanted to leave the house or be seen it was all just to much, but I never stopped praying and thanking God. Well as time went on I kept having different complications and things going on with my body, whether it was the reaction to medicine or my body just feeling tired and beat. I constantly kept faith and fought through all the pain and suffering. As time went on, the staff at UNC hospital let me know my kidneys weren't getting better and I just couldn't keep taking those steroids. I stayed there for a while longer and was soon moved to UVA in Charlottesville, VA. Once I arrived at this hospital, I received the news that I would be starting on dialysis soon, this news hurt me to my heart and I felt so bad. BUT, I kept my faith cause I knew if I wanted to live .
I kept going to see my new doctor. I then had to prepare myself to get a catheter placed in my stomach, to start treatment. I chose to do peritoneal dialysis because of my age and it was recommended by my doctor. This surgery was the first of many to come that I knew nothing about, but everything went well and now I just had to complete training and get started,I started peritoneal dialysis September 2008. Well for some time it went well and i was really good at it, knowing i had to deal with it in order to live, but after a while it got old and frustrating to do. I had to have a surgery for my parathyroid gland. I kept doing dialysis and kept staying strong.In the mean time another problem occurred and this was with my hip,I found out I had avascular necrosis in my right hip because of my steroids. I was in so much pain just trying to walk.
I just didn't understand why I was going through so much in my life. I treat people nice, I love God, I'm very kind, I go to church what's the problem? So as I did this dialysis for over 2 years, finally I was about to receive a kidney.
On March 25,2010 a great friend of mine thought enough of me gave me one of her kidneys . Everything went well, until a couple hours later the doctors come gave me the most devastating news of my entire life, "Tanisha something in your blood has attacked your kidney so we have to remove it." I just sat there in shock and it wasn't until days later that I would be going back home without a new kidney, WOW! What else can go wrong in my life?
As time went on, I had more work done to my left arm. The team of doctors were trying to get an access for dialysis. I had four different surgeries getting fistulas and grafts that did not work. This was such a disappointment. In Sept 2010, I went to get a graft put in my right arm and that ended up being a disaster. The graft got infected and all my home doctors, kept telling me it wasn't and in my heart I knew different. One day during dialysis, my heart rate became so outrageous I had 2 seizures while on the machine.
Finally, one Saturday afternoon I had a friend drive me to Duke University Hospital, to get a second opinion. When I got there, I was told I would have to have an emergency surgery because my arm was so infected and that I could lose my arm. While going through the situation of all my accesses failing, I continuously kept getting infections in my perma catheters, I also ended up with indocardious in my heart, which is a bad infection . I was so scared. I was placed in ICU at my hospital at home then moved to Duke university's ICU. I stayed for a long time waiting for this mass on my heart to dissolve, I was even in there for Thanksgiving. This big mass that was there disappeared and I didn't have to have open heart surgery. I felt relieved and so blessed.
After some time passed the doctor that saved my arm agreed to try a fistula in my arm, That surgery it was a success. I was so happy, I finally had a working access in my arm that didn't fail me. Finally, some peace, that's all I wanted. I went on with my life and my new fistula and had no problems for a while. However, I started getting dizzy, passing out, face swelling, and crazy unexplainable episodes. I went and got this checked out and found out that I would need a stent put in to help with the circulation and the blockage.
In February 2014, I had a stent put in and all those symptoms went away. I did good for a while and had to get my fistula ballooned a couple times but nothing to major. Thank God! As the year went on, I started getting dizzy again. In mid August and scheduled an appointment to fix my stint, well while going in to do that my doctor found out that I had more blockage and that my stent was moving. I had to speak with a heart surgeon and get this scheduled very soon. My feelings were so hurt and I was so scared. I knew God had me wrapped in his arms even in this moment.
The surgery was set for October 20,2014, a day I will never forget. My surgery was a success, however while working on my heart my fistula clotted, so I had to schedule yet another surgery appointment.
I'm still healing and still got my joy. I feel so grateful and so blessed for all that I've been through and made it out of. God gets all the glory. This is not about me but him. I'm grateful.
In addition to everything else that has taken place in my life there are a number of surgeries and procedures that followed.
Listed below is the story Tanisha wrote over a year ago about her battle with Kidney disease:
(this story was not corrected, as we pasted it from a email she had written before death)
In December 2006, I started swelling in my feet area, it was so hard to even put on a regular shoe. I would go shopping and try on clothes that would fit when I tried them but then I wouldn't be able to fit them the next day or two. Strange is what I thought about this situation but kinda over looked it. So weeks went on and the swelling would come and go then I noticed that the swelling wasn't just in my feet it was from my waist down. By this time devastated and worried I just didn't know what to do. Well I finally went to the doctor in Martinsville, VA where I was sent to a neurologist Dr. David Leflur . Here I went through a lot of testing and different questions I answered them truthfully and to the best of my ability, after the testing I was sent home until the results were in. After a while of waiting I received a call from his office saying everything looked good and he would try one more thing, which was a biopsy on my kidneys to see more into what was going on with me. The biopsy was set for February 28th 2007 in Martinsville, VA. I stayed in Martinsville that night and went to my appointment that morning. I left the appointment thinking that I would get some type of information about what was going on with my body. Then one day in the beginning of April I was given an appointment to come review the results. I went to this appointment so open minded and so care free not knowing I was about to get life changing, most devastating news of my whole life. When I get to my doctors office I'm told that I have a kidney disease by the name of FSGS. I sat there in shock, not knowing what to say because I was confused. I finally got myself together and asked my doctor to explain the disease and asked him what I needed to do. He explained the disease and let me know that Alonzo Mourning and Shaun Elliot were two known basketball players that had the same disease. Then he spoke with me about starting a steroid by the name of prednisone. I listened to him but sat there thinking about all the bad things I had heard about steroids I didn't want to take them, but I did want to get well. He also brought to my attention a clinical research study that was going on in Chapel Hill at UNC hospital. I was then enrolled into the study and started treatment, I remember sitting in the waiting room when breaking news about the VT shooting came across the TV. I was devastated, to see a person like myself so loving caring and kindhearted going through this. I just wanting to live, then an awful person on this screen killing people and himself. I thought to myself "Why had I been chosen to go through this instead of him?" But, later on in life I begin to think "why not me?"
As time went on I gained so much weight my appearance changed so much, I was embarrassed and ashamed. I never wanted to leave the house or be seen it was all just to much, but I never stopped praying and thanking God. Well as time went on I kept having different complications and things going on with my body, whether it was the reaction to medicine or my body just feeling tired and beat. I constantly kept faith and fought through all the pain and suffering. As time went on, the staff at UNC hospital let me know my kidneys weren't getting better and I just couldn't keep taking those steroids. I stayed there for a while longer and was soon moved to UVA in Charlottesville, VA. Once I arrived at this hospital, I received the news that I would be starting on dialysis soon, this news hurt me to my heart and I felt so bad. BUT, I kept my faith cause I knew if I wanted to live .
I kept going to see my new doctor. I then had to prepare myself to get a catheter placed in my stomach, to start treatment. I chose to do peritoneal dialysis because of my age and it was recommended by my doctor. This surgery was the first of many to come that I knew nothing about, but everything went well and now I just had to complete training and get started,I started peritoneal dialysis September 2008. Well for some time it went well and i was really good at it, knowing i had to deal with it in order to live, but after a while it got old and frustrating to do. I had to have a surgery for my parathyroid gland. I kept doing dialysis and kept staying strong.In the mean time another problem occurred and this was with my hip,I found out I had avascular necrosis in my right hip because of my steroids. I was in so much pain just trying to walk.
I just didn't understand why I was going through so much in my life. I treat people nice, I love God, I'm very kind, I go to church what's the problem? So as I did this dialysis for over 2 years, finally I was about to receive a kidney.
On March 25,2010 a great friend of mine thought enough of me gave me one of her kidneys . Everything went well, until a couple hours later the doctors come gave me the most devastating news of my entire life, "Tanisha something in your blood has attacked your kidney so we have to remove it." I just sat there in shock and it wasn't until days later that I would be going back home without a new kidney, WOW! What else can go wrong in my life?
As time went on, I had more work done to my left arm. The team of doctors were trying to get an access for dialysis. I had four different surgeries getting fistulas and grafts that did not work. This was such a disappointment. In Sept 2010, I went to get a graft put in my right arm and that ended up being a disaster. The graft got infected and all my home doctors, kept telling me it wasn't and in my heart I knew different. One day during dialysis, my heart rate became so outrageous I had 2 seizures while on the machine.
Finally, one Saturday afternoon I had a friend drive me to Duke University Hospital, to get a second opinion. When I got there, I was told I would have to have an emergency surgery because my arm was so infected and that I could lose my arm. While going through the situation of all my accesses failing, I continuously kept getting infections in my perma catheters, I also ended up with indocardious in my heart, which is a bad infection . I was so scared. I was placed in ICU at my hospital at home then moved to Duke university's ICU. I stayed for a long time waiting for this mass on my heart to dissolve, I was even in there for Thanksgiving. This big mass that was there disappeared and I didn't have to have open heart surgery. I felt relieved and so blessed.
After some time passed the doctor that saved my arm agreed to try a fistula in my arm, That surgery it was a success. I was so happy, I finally had a working access in my arm that didn't fail me. Finally, some peace, that's all I wanted. I went on with my life and my new fistula and had no problems for a while. However, I started getting dizzy, passing out, face swelling, and crazy unexplainable episodes. I went and got this checked out and found out that I would need a stent put in to help with the circulation and the blockage.
In February 2014, I had a stent put in and all those symptoms went away. I did good for a while and had to get my fistula ballooned a couple times but nothing to major. Thank God! As the year went on, I started getting dizzy again. In mid August and scheduled an appointment to fix my stint, well while going in to do that my doctor found out that I had more blockage and that my stent was moving. I had to speak with a heart surgeon and get this scheduled very soon. My feelings were so hurt and I was so scared. I knew God had me wrapped in his arms even in this moment.
The surgery was set for October 20,2014, a day I will never forget. My surgery was a success, however while working on my heart my fistula clotted, so I had to schedule yet another surgery appointment.
I'm still healing and still got my joy. I feel so grateful and so blessed for all that I've been through and made it out of. God gets all the glory. This is not about me but him. I'm grateful.
In addition to everything else that has taken place in my life there are a number of surgeries and procedures that followed.
Organizer
Tikia Fallen
Organizer
Danville, VA