Nicolle's Medical Fund

Greetings! Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my page! My name is Nicolle and I was really skeptical about starting this gofundme page because I consider myself a strong person who is always helping, never the one needing help! Well, today I decided to set aside my pride and tell my story! At the age of 17, I was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis, an auto-immune disease that attacks the body. After diagnosis, I immediatley began Cytoxan treatment and had 6, 6 month intervals of it. For those who aren't familiar with Cytoxan, it is an intravenious treatment similar to Chemo-Therapy, but not as harsh, that helps slow the effects of the auto-immune disease. I didn't let the diagnosis stop me, I graduated from high school and attended MSU, all while taking over 60 milligrams of prednisone daily and catching the city bus to my weekly Cytoxan treatments at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. I graduated from MSU in 1999 and pursued my Masters in 2001, which I completed in 2005. I have never allowed Lupus to stop me or define me, so I fought my way through the rough days and I became the independent woman that my parents raised me to be! For over 20 years, I have been in and out of the hospital, had various surgeries and taken countless medications and none of that stopped me or slowed me down! But on December 17, 2013, that all changed - Lupus finally had me on the ropes.....see all those years, Lupus had been doing a number on my kidneys and they finally gave out - I had complete renal failure! My picture is the day I was discharged from the hospital! I was smiling then, and with God's help, I will continue to smile!  I learned I would be restricted from that day forward to dialysis 3 days a week 3 hours a day! For over a year now, I have been doing dialysis MWF at 4:30am and still working a full time job! Although thankful for my job, I have incurred a significant amount of medical bills that I am having a hard time paying off. Not only do I have medical bills from 2013 and 2014, but I have expenses surrounding the kidney transplant that I so desperately need! Unfortunately, I have no living donors that can be used and the waiting list here in MI is 7 years, so I have been placed on the list in OH, but there are costs associated with traveling there. I turn 40 this year and I've never been married and because of the Cytoxan never had children, so I would love to give myself a celebration for my 40th - but I don't see it happening with all the medical bills I currently have. I am so blessed to still have life and I know that I have purpose, so if my story doesn't inspire you to give, maybe it will inspire you never to give up no matter what life throws your way! Thanking you in advance! God bless!