PLEASE SHARE EVEN IF YOU CAN NOT CONTRIBUTE

If any of you know my mom personally or through me, you know that she can be prideful and private about her family, ableness, and money. November 2020 she would have been horrified by even hearing the words “Go Fund Me.” Chronic Kidney Disease has broken her down and she is finally open to asking for help. I have seen her transform in ways I never would have expected. She has become gentler and more honest with herself to confront challenges and trauma that can come with any progressively fatal disease. Going from limited functioning kidneys due to diabetes to less than 10 percent functioning due to contracting COVID in the first wave. From being attached to a peritoneal dialysis machine 12 out of 24 hours a day to being forced into hemodialysis whenever peritoneal dialysis becomes unreliable. For my mom specifically, this means 4 hours of frigid cold and pain 3 times a week just to stay alive. My mom has a sensitivity to opiates (which is in her chart) and the hospital managed to over-dose her twice, causing her to flat-line twice. If you know anything about the legalities of medical malpractice, please reach out to me. This little paragraph only begins to paint a picture of what Chronic Kidney Disease can look like in someone you love, like my mom. She is in the final stages of this disease, which means she is expected to die in the next year if she does not get a kidney transplant.

For what it is worth, morally I cannot say what makes someone worthy of a kidney transplant. There are a variety of physical factors that her renal specialists consider, such as the ability to walk 6 minutes after a hospitalization that has currently limited her mobility. Or that there is a shortage of Asian (She is 100% Japanese) and Black kidneys, so her chances to match are less (supposedly). Whether she can pass all the health screenings that determine she can house a functioning kidney in her body (Which she passed!) and so on...

I do not make the physical or moral decisions about who gets a kidney transplant, but I believe my mom is worthy. She is the type of mom who reminds you repeatedly why she made you. She is the type of mom who you never doubt how much she loves you, even in adversity. She is the type of mom who holds herself in such a way that you just knew for a fact that you have the best mom in the whole world. She is the type of mom who reads to you every night, gives you nickels for math problems, and labels everything in the house with the spelling to “prepare you for the real world.” She is the type of mom who makes sure the whole food pyramid is on your plate, 3 times a day, even when she does not get to eat. She is the type of mom who emphasizes accountability but fights for your rights when you are treated unfairly. She is the type of mom who will have a (very polite) gift-giving war with your best friend’s mom to “reciprocate.” She is the type of mom who will pick up your other friend from the hospital at 2 am because his parents were absent. She is the type of mom who will drag you kicking and screaming from a dangerous situation because your frontal lobe is not developed enough to understand. She is the type of mom obsessed with “the principal” of moral situations. She is the type of mom who would never ask anyone for help because she had already thought 10 steps ahead. She is the type of mom who has sacrificed some of her dreams and niceties to be the best mom she could be. She is the type of mom you know too well, that you could finish half her sentences. Sometimes you want to shake her, but when you hug her, you do not want to let go. She is the type of mom who did not show vulnerability. She is the type of mom who made you to be independent because she knows one day she will not be around anymore. She is the type of mom who is worthy of a kidney, so that does not have to be so soon.

I know people are not just giving these things away, but if you or anyone you know is interested in kidney or pancreas donation that would be the best-case scenario. You do not have to be a match for my mom to donate. They will find a match for her, and your organ will be matched with someone else in need.

In the meantime, I would like to fundraise money for my mom’s future kidney. My goal is to raise at least $200,000. The kidney and pancreas transplants in combination cost $800,000 without insurance but will cost my parents $200k, at minimum, after insurance pays out. The money raised will go towards her organ transplant surgeries and if she passes before then, the money will go towards her medical expenses.

Thank you for reading all through this. Reach out to me with any questions. And press the share button either way, please!