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Michelle Ball was born with Alport syndrome which is a genetic condition that causes kidney disease, hearing loss and eye abnormalities. There is currently no cure for Alport syndrome, this is a disease that she will have to live with for the rest of her life. At the young age of 6 both her kidneys died and she needed a kidney transplant. Her Mom gave her the gift of a second chance at life by donating her kidney to her daughter. Michelle has lived with this one donated kidney for the last 24 years with the constant fear that her kidney might go into failure.
Unfortunately, on September 8th of 2019 she started seeing signs of kidney failure. Her sister, Roseanna, told her to go to the hospital immediately where the doctors began to run tests. They did a kidney biopsy which resulted in kidney failure. She was then admitted to the hospital where she began experimental treatments not guaranteed to work. She went through 10 treatments of plasma transfers and on the 11th day of her hospital stay she underwent chemotherapy. She had a bad allergic reaction to the plasma and chemo which created blood clots in her mouth with severe pain all over her body. Once the blood clots had stopped she was released from the hospital. Three days later she returned to the hospital for emergency surgery to get rid of MRSA (staph infection) that she contracted from her previous hospital stay. Tubes were placed in her lower back to drain out the infection. After three weeks the tubes were removed with the MRSA being cured.
Three weeks after her MRSA was cured she lost her vision in her left eye due to high blood pressure. She began to experience constant vomiting, nausea, weakness, lightheaded, and dizziness. On Christmas day she got really sick and three days later she was back in the hospital where she was put on a breathing machine due to low oxygen and was told that they were waiting for a bed to become available at University Medical Center. After 24 hours of sitting in the Emergency Room still waiting for a bed with no further assistance from the medical professionals, she decided to discharge herself. About a month later she received a call from the hospital telling her she needed to go in because she was being overdosed on the medication that the transplant clinic prescribed her which was killing her kidney instead of helping it. She was told that her system needed to be cleaned and she needed to star over on her medication. She was in the hospital for 3 days while she was hooked up to fluids to flush out the medication from her body.
After a month she started to feel well until the right side of her back started hurting. She stayed in bed for 3 days in pain until 911 was called. She had bruising and blistering on her stomach, but the fire department told her that she was fine and that if she needed medication for pain to go to the Emergency Room. She went to the ER and found out she had a Urinary Tract Infection, sepsis and a kidney infection. She was then started on dialysis to clean her blood. Since then she has had to stop working and is on medical leave from Walgreens with no pay. She is on permanent dialysis three days a week until further testing is done to see if she is a candidate for a second kidney transplant. She is now currently in Stage 5 renal/kidney failure. On top of all of this she has also been having min strokes for the last year and the cause is still unknown. We are waiting for her to be seen by a Neurologist to find the cause of the mini strokes.
She has been out of work since March with medical bills and all her regular monthly bills adding up. We decided to start this GoFundMe for her to try and get her at least some financial relief during this difficult time. She is waiting to see if disability will approve her, but until then the bills are not getting paid. Michelle has been through a lot physically and mentally. Her body has been beaten up and mentally she is struggling to cope with everything that she has gone through. She still has a long road ahead of her. Any help would be greatly appreciated and all donations will go directly to Michelle to help her pay her medical bills and living expenses. I also ask that you send her positive thoughts in hopes that she will be a candidate for a second kidney transplant.
Thank you,
Isamar Worthy and Trang Troung
Unfortunately, on September 8th of 2019 she started seeing signs of kidney failure. Her sister, Roseanna, told her to go to the hospital immediately where the doctors began to run tests. They did a kidney biopsy which resulted in kidney failure. She was then admitted to the hospital where she began experimental treatments not guaranteed to work. She went through 10 treatments of plasma transfers and on the 11th day of her hospital stay she underwent chemotherapy. She had a bad allergic reaction to the plasma and chemo which created blood clots in her mouth with severe pain all over her body. Once the blood clots had stopped she was released from the hospital. Three days later she returned to the hospital for emergency surgery to get rid of MRSA (staph infection) that she contracted from her previous hospital stay. Tubes were placed in her lower back to drain out the infection. After three weeks the tubes were removed with the MRSA being cured.
Three weeks after her MRSA was cured she lost her vision in her left eye due to high blood pressure. She began to experience constant vomiting, nausea, weakness, lightheaded, and dizziness. On Christmas day she got really sick and three days later she was back in the hospital where she was put on a breathing machine due to low oxygen and was told that they were waiting for a bed to become available at University Medical Center. After 24 hours of sitting in the Emergency Room still waiting for a bed with no further assistance from the medical professionals, she decided to discharge herself. About a month later she received a call from the hospital telling her she needed to go in because she was being overdosed on the medication that the transplant clinic prescribed her which was killing her kidney instead of helping it. She was told that her system needed to be cleaned and she needed to star over on her medication. She was in the hospital for 3 days while she was hooked up to fluids to flush out the medication from her body.
After a month she started to feel well until the right side of her back started hurting. She stayed in bed for 3 days in pain until 911 was called. She had bruising and blistering on her stomach, but the fire department told her that she was fine and that if she needed medication for pain to go to the Emergency Room. She went to the ER and found out she had a Urinary Tract Infection, sepsis and a kidney infection. She was then started on dialysis to clean her blood. Since then she has had to stop working and is on medical leave from Walgreens with no pay. She is on permanent dialysis three days a week until further testing is done to see if she is a candidate for a second kidney transplant. She is now currently in Stage 5 renal/kidney failure. On top of all of this she has also been having min strokes for the last year and the cause is still unknown. We are waiting for her to be seen by a Neurologist to find the cause of the mini strokes.
She has been out of work since March with medical bills and all her regular monthly bills adding up. We decided to start this GoFundMe for her to try and get her at least some financial relief during this difficult time. She is waiting to see if disability will approve her, but until then the bills are not getting paid. Michelle has been through a lot physically and mentally. Her body has been beaten up and mentally she is struggling to cope with everything that she has gone through. She still has a long road ahead of her. Any help would be greatly appreciated and all donations will go directly to Michelle to help her pay her medical bills and living expenses. I also ask that you send her positive thoughts in hopes that she will be a candidate for a second kidney transplant.
Thank you,
Isamar Worthy and Trang Troung
Organizer and beneficiary
Michelle Ball
Beneficiary