Kidney Transplant Fund

My wife, Nicki, is 24 years old, in relatively great health, but we have recently undergone a dramatic life altering event. She went into the ER on the night of January 25th, for what we thought was just an extensive and unending migraine headache and a nosebleed. We were seen at the local Dignity Outpatient ER on Litchfield Road and Camelback. When she was admitted, they noticed her relatively high blood pressure of 226/107, but attributed it to her severe headache. They performed some lab tests, a CT scan, and then left her in a room on a migraine IV drip while they awaited the results. While she was there, she suffered a seizure. Upon the staff resolving the seizure, they were able to obtain her lab work, and noticed she was suffering from Acute Renal Failure. She has no prior history of kidney problems and having such an incident at her age was baffling. They immediately transferred her to the nearest ICU, which happened to be all the way across Phoenix, in Chandler; approximately 40 mins from our house. It was the nearest bed due to the massive strain, COVID-19 is placing on our hospital systems. As soon as she was admitted to Chandler Regional Medical Center, the ICU staff placed a jugular dialysis catheter in her neck to lower her blood toxicity and prevent life threatening damage. She stayed at the hospital for 6 days, and while she was there, they performed a litany of tests. They were able to obtain a biopsy of her kidney and determined that her kidneys have been damaged to a point where 42/59 glomeruli have been scared beyond repair, which means her kidneys are functioning just a little over 25%. Therefore, due to the extensive damage, her Dr recommends a kidney transplant, due to her age and overall great health. They were also able to attribute this event to a disorder called IGA Nephropathy. In discussing this matter with her Dr, the overall extensiveness of such a disease is exceptionally rare, and very uncommon for such an event to happen so quickly, with no symptoms up to this point in her life and wreck such havoc on her kidneys so expeditiously.  In talking with her parents and relatives she is the first one to even have such kidney problems in her immediate family, which is also rare for such a disease. The staff were able to release her after placing a PD dialysis catheter in her stomach, so she can undergo dialysis treatment in the comfort of our house while we await a transplant. Nickki is a newly minted US citizen, who is the matriarch of her immigrant family. She assists in running her mom’s Pickleball manufacturing business in Peoria, called TOPP Pickleball, while she pursues her last year of her bachelor’s degree in Business, from Arizona State University. She is following her American dream of making something for her family, but as with most things in this pandemic, has been hit exceptionally hard financially.  Although we have health insurance and some savings, up to this point it has been drained from the pandemic as well as her hospital bills from the ER visit and long stay, and we have yet to move forward with the transplant, which will also have additional costs. This is a life long matter, and will require consistent medical care, even with her transplant she will be required to take medicine for the rest of her life, as well as manage her IGA Nephropathy.  

Anything we do not use to pay for her medical expenses will be used to raise awareness for kidney diseases and research.

Please also support her family business, TOPP Pickleball at www.topppickleball.com