#OneTeamOneDream

Wednesday morning, October 17, 2018 was just like any other Wednesday in the Peele home. The kids were getting ready for school, Michelle and Jabe each took their routes through the various school drop off lines, which is quite a few with five children in the home under the age of 13. They each made their way to work and before 9 AM, Jabe got a call that would forever change his life and life of his family.

At 42, Jabe was in the best shape of his life, working out three days a week, keeping up with his beautiful wife, a house full of children and managing the demands of a challenging job, he never has a negative outlook and even with all of the demands in his life, he is someone that you could go to if you needed anything, and he would be there in a heartbeat. That’s why towards the end of September, when Jabe started feeling unwell, Michelle began to become concerned about him. He was feeling sluggish, run down easily, and as the days progress he would become short of breath, all the while never once complaining.  He even threw a big birthday party for his eight-year-old the Saturday before. They chalked his symptoms up to a virus or perhaps even the flu, and when he finally shared that his hands and feet were tingling and going numb, they went to the doctor. Nothing could have prepared them for what the tests found in his bloodwork.

“Good morning Mr. Peele, this is your doctor’s office calling to tell you that you need to get to the closest ER now, you are in renal failure.”

That is how the call went and Jabe stood there at work a minute to process what he just heard then immediately called his wife. Michelle will tell you that he was as calm as ever as he told her he was getting ready to drive himself to the ER at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center. Little did he know until later that night, that he drove himself to the hospital on 10% kidney function.

Jabe lost count of the amount of times he was poked in order for the nurses to draw vial after vial of blood because test after test found nothing but a healthy 42-year-old male.  In fact, the doctors were perplexed. What could be causing kidney failure in such a healthy young man?  All the while as test after test is being run, the hospital is flushing his kidneys in the hopes that his kidneys will begin to function on their own once again. Unfortunately that did not happen so they decided to biopsy his kidney and begin dialysis immediately.

IgA nephropathy (nuh-FROP-uh-thee), also known as Berger's disease, is a kidney disease that occurs when an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) lodges in your kidneys. This results in local inflammation that, over time, hampers your kidneys' ability to filter wastes from your blood.  The disease can go unnoticed for decades. 

Each kidney contains tiny blood vessels (glomeruli) that filter waste, excess water and other substances from your blood as they pass through your kidneys. The filtered blood re-enters your bloodstream, while the waste material passes into your bladder and out of your body when you urinate.

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is an antibody that plays a key role in your immune system by attacking invading pathogens and fighting infections. But in IgA nephropathy, this antibody collects in the glomeruli, causing inflammation (glomerulonephritis) and gradually affecting their filtering ability. 

Courtesy: The Mayo Clinic


Jabe’s current situation?  Remain on dialysis for the rest of his life or receive a kidney transplant.  

Dialysis can run upwards of over $70,000 per year and might give him about 10 more years with us.  Dialysis does some of the work of your kidneys when your kidneys can't do it themselves.  However, when your kidneys are no longer able to work at a level that's necessary for day-to-day life, you have end-stage renal disease. End-stage renal disease usually occurs when kidney function is less than 10 percent of normal. Also known as Stage 5, kidney failure. 

So that leaves us with a kidney transplant. A surgical procedure to place a healthy kidney from a live or deceased donor into a person whose kidneys no longer function properly costs up in the hundreds of thousands and even double if the transplant fails.  Post transplant, the rejection medications he must take every day for the rest of his life will run upwards of $15,000 per year. 

Transplant is the course of action the family intends to take and he already has a line of people ready to donate!  However, our prayer currently is that the screening conducted to determine whether he is even is a candidate for transplant will allow for the Surgery. 

As you can imagine, finances are pretty tight with 5 young children in the home and two older children in college.  The thought of all of the medical bills ahead of them is looming so this page was created for the countless people that have asked what they can do to help and for those of you that don’t know him personally but you have a heart to help in some small way this precious family by easing even a fraction of their burden. 

Michelle and Jabe are just those kind of people that are full of love and life!  God certainly knew what he was doing when he allow these two to find each other. Regardless of all the trials and battles they have faced, their attitudes about anything and everything are incredible. There is no room for negativity in their lives!

If you are unable to give financially, you can still give in a huge way with your prayers for this precious family during this unexpected season in their journey, that they continue leaning on God Almighty, our Lord and Savior, for His strength and endurance as they travel down this road. We are confident that our God is a God of mercy and miracles and that He will restore Jabe back to full health.