I am creating this page to ask for your help. My name is Jay Blum. I am a husband, a father, an author, a community activist and a CANCER SURVIVOR.

My story begins in 1992, at the age of 22. At that time I was diagnosed with Stage 3B Hodgkin’s Disease. After three months of the nastiest chemotherapy drugs they could think of and thirty-six radiation treatments, I beat that cancer and won the fight.

Almost twenty years later, in 2011, I was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma (Kidney Cancer). I lost my left kidney to the disease but I beat cancer again and won that fight.

In 2014, I was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma (a form of skin cancer). I had the tumor removed from my thigh and have a pretty gnarly scar there now. Yep, you guessed it, I beat cancer again and won fight number three.

In 2015, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (Malignant Kidney Cancer) in my right kidney. After nearly a year that included three ablation sessions, eighteen surgeries, nine trip to various emergency rooms, external urinary drainage, and multiple bouts with sepsis and infections that caused me to be hospitalized for a total of over 60 days, I finally lost my right kidney to the disease in October of 2016. Cancer won that fight as I no longer have any kidneys. Don’t count me out yet though because I am a fighter.

I have now been diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and started in-center dialysis in October of 2016; where I am hooked up to a machine for four hours a session, three times a week.

In September of 2016 I began the transplant qualification process at Emory University Hospital's Transplant Department to determine my eligibility for a kidney transplant. Even with a combination of both private and public insurance, it has been difficult to afford the medications and equipment needed to sustain my life.

An excerpt from an ESRD Network website has stated that the cost of a kidney transplant is roughly $260,000 with immunosuppressive and other prescription medications costing an average of $2,500 a month (1) . My private insurance and Medicare cover some reasonable expenses with the exception of the various deductibles and the 20% co-insurance, non-covered dental work required prior to the transplant, immunosuppressive medications and follow-up visits with every specialist the medical profession has. As you can imagine these costs add up quickly. Just the annual cost of the immunosuppressive medications is estimated to be $30,000 annually.

In order to help bridge the gap between what our insurances will pay and what they will not pay, we have opened up two fundraising accounts, Jay Blum's Kidney Transplant & Medical Expenses Fund, on GiveForward.com at https://pages.giveforward.com/medical/page-x3tlcp4/ and Jay vs. Kidney Cancer on GoFundMe.com at https://www.gofundme.com/jay-vs-cancer.

We would really appreciate it if you could reach into your piggy-banks or wallets and make a small donation of $5, or more, today as any help would be greatly and deeply appreciated. We are also looking for volunteers to help us with the creation, planning, promotion, and project management of local and virtual fundraising events. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated as well.

I am asking everyone that reads this page to copy, paste, make copies, and share this link, because we need as much help as WE CAN GET! By donating a few dollars and/or spreading the word to your family and friends, we can raise awareness of this disease and give my family peace of mind to know that we have the ability to pay for the dialysis and ultimately my transplant that our insurance will not cover.

My heartfelt thanks,

Jay A Blum

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4520417/