Jeremy Ainsworth #NoOneFightsAlone SPK Transplant

As many of you may know Jeremy was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 8. He has lived with this overwhelming disease for 29 years. During his life with diabetes he has had 3 separate eye surgeries due to retinopathy, 6 different insulin pumps, countless glucose monitors, many doctors appointments, and even been hospitalized. He was lucky as a child to have the opportunity to attend diabetes camp where he learned so much about how he could care for himself by counting carbs, giving himself insulin, understanding the disease itself, helping others with diabetes and so much more. He has gained some life long friends and we are very grateful for all who have reached out and been a part of that. As he grew older he became a counselor and currently volunteers at summer and winter camps. Over the years his diabetes has taken a toll on his body which is causing his blood sugar to be unstable so he is constantly going super high or scary low without warning. His most recent trial is that he is now in need of an SPK (simultaneous pancreases & kidney) transplant. Unfortunately this can not be done by finding a match from a living donor. His kidneys have taken a hard turn for the worst, and are now only functioning at 14%. In April of this year he was placed on the transplant list inactively and became active at the beginning of June. When an organ begins to fail it wears on your body and other organs also begin to have issues. In addition to all his diabetic needs, he now has to take medications for his heart, potassium, creatinine and blood. He has been very strong though all of this but due to time and stress on the body, he is very worn out. Medical costs for his diabetic supplies, insulin and other medications are already an immense amount of money. The costs have been increasing over the years and now we are adding the expenses of a double transplant, a lifetime of anti rejection medications, cobra insurance and a long time frame of not being able to work.  Luckily, as of now, Jeremy has still been able to work and he continues to push through, never giving up hope. Hard labor is very wearing on him and has caused him to become weaker as time passes. Next month he will be going in to start the dialysis process. He will hopefully be a good candidate to get a surgical port and be able to do the at home dialysis. We will be crossing our fingers in hopes that he won’t have to sit in the dialysis center 3-5 times per week for 4-6 hours per day. Jeremy has always been a very hard worker and always willing to help other people. He prides himself on being able to provide for his family and being a good dad. We are asking for your help at this point due to costs. For medical insurance alone it costs $1700 per month. Insulin and supplies with insurance cost upwards of another $1000, his dexcom and supplies which are not covered by insurance are an additional $250-$600, plus all his doctors visits, medication (17 pills per day) and the 2 transplants which can cost up to $300,000+ if cobra runs out, this is all on top of what we have to pay to actually live. Please help save a dad, husband, son, brother, cousin, grandson and friend. We are all staying positive that the transplant comes before his body can no longer function properly. We are praying for him to receive a transplant as quickly as possible and stay in as good of health as he can while waiting. It’s amazing the love we have already seen. Our family is very grateful to have such a wonder family and group of friends who we call family.  Xoxoxo