Marianne's Kidney Transplant

Hello, our names are Melissa and Kaitlyn, and we are trying to raise funds for our best friend's family. Marianne was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 2005 when she was pregnant with her youngest daughter, Tori. They found high protein in her urine and she was told she needs to see a nephrologist. That was quickly put on hold as her daughter, Tori, was born 10 weeks early. She saw a nephrologist and they put her on medication hoping her creatinine would come down and it did. They also did a biopsy of her kidney and found focal segmental glomerular lesions.

Following the birth of her youngest daughter, she was faced with her next battle, breast cancer. This October will be 14 years since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. While dealing with breast cancer, her kidneys flared up again and she was told she would eventually need a kidney transplant. Dealing with both breast cancer and kidney disease she decided that she could only deal with one of them at a time. At that moment breast cancer was the battle she had to fight first. She has now been cancer free for almost 14 years this October!

On June 26th 2014, her husband, Gary tragically passed away leaving behind his 4 girls. This made Marianne the sole provider of her 3 daughters; Ellie, Sami and Tori.

In January of 2018 she was officially put on the kidney transplant list. She started going every 3 months to check her labs to see if they increased or decreased. In April of 2019 her kidney function went from 15% down to 12% which was the biggest jump she has had. In September of 2020, she had surgery to implant her dialysis port. She opted for at home dialysis 3 times a day so she could do dialysis while working from home. Many family members and friends went through testing to donate, but they were all denied. Currently, one of her co-workers has been approved to do the Kidney Paired Donation Program and they are patiently waiting for a match.

With her Kidney transplant coming soon we are raising funds for:

-Lost wages as she will be out of work for months

-Gas money as her hospital is an hour away and gas prices have increased

-Medical bills

-Lifelong anti-rejection medication

-Monthly bills as life doesn't stop moving around you at a time like this

After her surgery instead of doing a meal train, if you would like to help with meals for her and her family we will be accepting gift cards for restaurants or grocery stores.

Marianne is loved by so many, and I know many people would love to help as their family goes through her new journey. If you are not able to donate, please feel free to share and send prayers.

Thank you,

Melissa and Kaitlyn