My Transplant Lifestyle

Hi, my name is Monique Juarez and I am 29 years old. On February 5, 2018 on my way home from work, I received a call from my primary doctor that my blood test had come back from my yearly checkup and that I needed to head to the ER immediately, as blood test showed that my kidneys were failing. Once being admitted to the hospital and after numerous testing I was diagnosed with IGA Nephropathy, Acute Renal Failure, Hypertension, and I would need to start dialysis, as well as needing a Kidney transplant. On February 6, 2018 I received a chest catheter and was placed on Hemodialysis, 3 times a week, from 3:00a.m.-6:30a.m. Going from a normal 29 year old life to being on Hemodialysis, was a hard transition for me. The no longer feeling like myself, not having energy to face the day when hemodialysis was finished, and the restrictions that it came with was not for me. I made the decision to switch my treatment to PD Dialysis and on March 21, 2018 I went into surgery to have a PD catheter placed into my lower stomach. For the next month, I was juggling with Hemodialysis on Tues, Thurs, Sat and PD Classes Mon, Wed, Fri. Due to the change in lifestyle, I had to go on disability and take a pay cut which financially is a hardship due to the new expenses such as medicals bills, prescriptions, gas, etc. On April 13, 2018, I was permanently placed on PD dialysis meaning all my treatment will be at home, on my time (mostly nights), and I would be doing my own treatment myself. I began the transplant process on April 23, 2018, when I had my first consultation with UCLA to see if I could be a candidate for their transplant program. As of right now, I’m currently waiting for my last test to come back to see if UCLA will place me on the donor list. I’m grateful to have the family and support that I do have, my mom, brother and my boyfriend of 8 years will all be testing themselves to see if they are a match. With a lot of faith and prayer I’m hoping that one of them does come back as a match!

The reasoning for the go fund page is to help with the new expenses that have come into my life such as medical bills, prescriptions, gas, as well as the expenses that will come with a transplant: surgery cost, prescriptions (up to 50 pills a day, as well as anti-rejection medication that I will need to take for the rest of my life), and other related expenses that might arise after surgery.  Not only do I wish the donated money go towards helping myself, but since I have started this journey it has touched me that so many others are going through what I am going through and need help as well. Part of your donations will be used to pay it forward and help others needing a transplant. I am currently working on a Youtube page that will educate others on the Kidney transplant process. It will include: what it’s like to live on dialysis, how to set the dialysis machine up, what a renal diet consist of, and I plan on documenting my transplant journey from beginning to end in hopes that it will help anyone going through it or family members of loved ones going through a kidney disease better understand what is going on. We are all in this together and will beat this disease!

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