Miranda and Gemel's Kidney Transplant Journey
Donation protected
Hi Everyone,
This is the first time we've publicly shared Miranda's battle with Lupus which resulted in complete kidney failure. We've told a handful of family and friends on as-needed basis but feel that now is a great time to tell our story as we just hit a major milestone!
To understand what happened to Miranda, we need to take a dive back almost 10 years ago. Miranda was initially diagnosed with Lupus, an auto-immune condition in 2012. Her condition has caused a wide array of symptoms such as inflamed joints, skin lesions, fatigue and most recently Kidney disease or (ESRD - End Stage Renal Failure).
Miranda's kidney's completely failed in December 2019, which required dialysis from then until her new kidney transplant in March 2021. In November 2020, I decided to pursue the required testing to donate one of my kidneys and after a dozen appointments and evaluations, I was cleared in January 2021 to be an approved donor.
Miranda had officially received a new kidney (March 29th) via a paired-exchange with another unknown donor. This was able to happen with me donating my kidney in exchange since we were not a compatible match (Blood type, tissue). My surgery is set to happen Monday morning (April 5th).
At first we were hesitant to create a fundraising campaign as we felt that our pain and struggles should just be kept between us. However we've been reminded that we're not alone and people have been asking if there are ways to donate which lead to this moment. Any and all funds raised through this campaign will be used solely for medical-related expenses as it's slowly added up over the past year and a half along with future expenses.
Thank you so much for reading this and for any help in advance!
Feel free to message/call Miranda or myself with any questions.
This is the first time we've publicly shared Miranda's battle with Lupus which resulted in complete kidney failure. We've told a handful of family and friends on as-needed basis but feel that now is a great time to tell our story as we just hit a major milestone!
To understand what happened to Miranda, we need to take a dive back almost 10 years ago. Miranda was initially diagnosed with Lupus, an auto-immune condition in 2012. Her condition has caused a wide array of symptoms such as inflamed joints, skin lesions, fatigue and most recently Kidney disease or (ESRD - End Stage Renal Failure).
Miranda's kidney's completely failed in December 2019, which required dialysis from then until her new kidney transplant in March 2021. In November 2020, I decided to pursue the required testing to donate one of my kidneys and after a dozen appointments and evaluations, I was cleared in January 2021 to be an approved donor.
Miranda had officially received a new kidney (March 29th) via a paired-exchange with another unknown donor. This was able to happen with me donating my kidney in exchange since we were not a compatible match (Blood type, tissue). My surgery is set to happen Monday morning (April 5th).
At first we were hesitant to create a fundraising campaign as we felt that our pain and struggles should just be kept between us. However we've been reminded that we're not alone and people have been asking if there are ways to donate which lead to this moment. Any and all funds raised through this campaign will be used solely for medical-related expenses as it's slowly added up over the past year and a half along with future expenses.
Thank you so much for reading this and for any help in advance!
Feel free to message/call Miranda or myself with any questions.
Organizer
Gemel Sipin
Organizer
Renton, WA