Please help Dom get to her Kidney Transplant

Please join me in donating funds for my sister-in-law, Dom, who is facing the biggest fight of her life. At only 36 years old she has been dealt a massive blow. Here is her story...

My journey started in 2017 when a few abnormal results came back from my urine test. With further testing and a kidney biopsy, I was formally diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy, a rare kidney disease. With the good treatment from my specialist and a healthy lifestyle I was able to keep living my life to its fullest. I had so many positive factors in my life at this stage, a beautiful family of 3 healthy children and a loving husband. Life was perfect!

Then 2020 hit and I suddenly become ill. I rushed myself to hospital as the pain in my kidneys was 10/10. I then spent most of February in hospital fighting for my health and my kidneys. I’d just started my dream job nursing in a great hospital. My life was changing from caring for people, to having people care for me. This was hard! Unfortunately, at this stage I had used up all of my sick leave and annual leave due to being in hospital.

My specialist closely monitored me and was hopeful that I might recover some of my kidney function. I was having weekly blood test and praying every time I had one done.

I was having appointments via the phone with my specialist due to COVID19 and then the dreaded call came to say he wanted to see me in person. At that stage my heart dropped.

In the appointment my kidneys were discussed and how they have never regained function and how I now needed to start dialysis. The words I did not want to hear. This absolutely devastated me. My life is changing fast!

I was then told I was category one ( high importance in the hospital system) So within the week I was seeing the surgeon for a Tancoff for dialysis and undergoing multiple appointments. The stress really started to set in on how my life is changing. The only way to help my condition now is a kidney transplant and that’s a big operation as well.

My husband has decided to donate a kidney for me, if he is compatible. He has started this process of timely appointments. This could take several months to do and be extremely costly.

The reason I am reaching out is that I will have to now take a lot of time off work to be able to start this new part of my life and adjust to a tube being in my abdomen and joined to a machine for 12 hours a day, and still try to work, and love and care for my beautiful family. I will have multiple appointments and the loss of the ability to work will greatly impact my life in multiple ways. From being a carer to being cared for.

Not to mention all the added expenses like medications that I will be on for the rest of my life, hospital parking for multiple appointments etc. It all adds up and will take away from being able to provide for my children which is any mother’s worst nightmare.

This new lifestyle as I’m calling it will affect me and my 3 children greatly. They will know a life of a mum who is constantly sick, chronic fatigued and hooked up to a machine. It breaks my heart that I can’t even swim in a pool with them. The small things in life we take for granted!

Please help me get through this the hardest part of my life.