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I’m writing this on behalf of my mother Donna Henderson. She has come under hard times in recent years. She has always been a strong and independent person, however her health struggles have prevented her from remaining fully independent and self sufficient. She has been living with kidney disease for quite some time now. The disease has unfortunately kept her from working full time. Her dialysis will take a toll on her and become more or less ineffective. She now is on the critical list for kidney transplants. Due to her severity, she was recently matched with a donor within a couple of weeks time.
Her health insurance in pursing the transplant does n cover the associated cost with aftercare. Make no mistake if she could work even part time to help pay for these added costs she would.
We are asking all friends and family to donate whatever you can to help defer these costs .
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
As my son stated, I’ve been living with kidney disease for several years. I was diagnosed with FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis). FSGS is a rare disease that attacks the kidney's filtering units (glomeruli) causing serious scarring which leads to permanent kidney damage and in my case kidney failure. The first three (3) years was spent doing my own dialysis (peritoneal dialysis) at home.
My life as you can imagine changed drastically. I go into a dialysis facility three (3) times a week for about 3 ½ to 4 hours each time. When I leave that treatment, I am ‘washed’ out. Imagine taking a wet towel and wringing out the water until you can’t wring it out anymore; that’s how I feel. After eating something, I have to lay down.
Some of the things I’ve had to deal with as a dialysis patient are:
• Diminished blood supply to my arm and fingers. A surgical procedure had to occur to prepare my arm for the dialysis process. My hand and fingers have limited mobility; but I try to exercise them with I use my laptop. Full mobility will never be recovered.
• Limitation on how much I can drink each day: 32 ounces. Yes, that is 4 (four) 8 oz glasses a day.
o In the beginning no one told me I had a limit.
• Anemia My blood count is constantly checked for low hemoglobin which is common among dialysis patients. As needed, I get iron infusions and injections of a medicine that stimulates the development of my red blood cells.
• Limited appetite and significant loss of energy. It’s important for a dialysis patient to eat foods high in protein. This helps a lot but is not the cure all. This is sometimes hard to do because I don’t always have an appetite; so many times I force myself to eat.
• Constant fluctuations in blood pressure. I never had blood pressure problems before my kidneys loss their function. I have to try many types of medications to regulate my blood pressure.
• Bouts with clogged salivary glands. Since I’m limited in how much I can drink, my salivary gland swells up and I have very little saliva in my mouth. You feel like you have swollen glands but much more painful; this usually requires steroids and morphine for the pain.
• Fistulagrams. This is basically angioplasty for my arm to remove blood clots in the arm where the dialysis takes place. This is an outpatient procedure.
Extremely dry skin.
• Removing phosphorus from my blood. Before every meal and snack, I chew Tums to remove the phosphorus from my blood.
These are just some of the things I deal with. Some things are common among dialysis patients and some things remain unique among patient
The funds that I am asking help for will cover:
• Caregiver Expenses. Post hospital release, a caregiver must live with me for a month to monitor and document my recovery, including administering medications, and driving me to and from follow-up appointments.
• Lodging for Follow-up Appointments. The location where I will have the transplant is 1 ½ hours away from my home. The 1st two weeks after being released from the hospital, there are frequent follow-up appointments. It is best to reside close by the hospital especially during this time of the year. Transplant patients usually stay in a hotel. So there is a cost for those two weeks.
o Then once I’m back home, there is the cost of traveling back to the hospital for those less frequent follow-up appointments until I am cleared to drive again.
• My cost for the transplant
• 1st month of anti-rejection medications
It would mean a lot to me to see this through; and if you would like to assist me, I would be truly grateful.
Thank You in Advance,
Donna Henderson
Her health insurance in pursing the transplant does n cover the associated cost with aftercare. Make no mistake if she could work even part time to help pay for these added costs she would.
We are asking all friends and family to donate whatever you can to help defer these costs .
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
As my son stated, I’ve been living with kidney disease for several years. I was diagnosed with FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis). FSGS is a rare disease that attacks the kidney's filtering units (glomeruli) causing serious scarring which leads to permanent kidney damage and in my case kidney failure. The first three (3) years was spent doing my own dialysis (peritoneal dialysis) at home.
My life as you can imagine changed drastically. I go into a dialysis facility three (3) times a week for about 3 ½ to 4 hours each time. When I leave that treatment, I am ‘washed’ out. Imagine taking a wet towel and wringing out the water until you can’t wring it out anymore; that’s how I feel. After eating something, I have to lay down.
Some of the things I’ve had to deal with as a dialysis patient are:
• Diminished blood supply to my arm and fingers. A surgical procedure had to occur to prepare my arm for the dialysis process. My hand and fingers have limited mobility; but I try to exercise them with I use my laptop. Full mobility will never be recovered.
• Limitation on how much I can drink each day: 32 ounces. Yes, that is 4 (four) 8 oz glasses a day.
o In the beginning no one told me I had a limit.
• Anemia My blood count is constantly checked for low hemoglobin which is common among dialysis patients. As needed, I get iron infusions and injections of a medicine that stimulates the development of my red blood cells.
• Limited appetite and significant loss of energy. It’s important for a dialysis patient to eat foods high in protein. This helps a lot but is not the cure all. This is sometimes hard to do because I don’t always have an appetite; so many times I force myself to eat.
• Constant fluctuations in blood pressure. I never had blood pressure problems before my kidneys loss their function. I have to try many types of medications to regulate my blood pressure.
• Bouts with clogged salivary glands. Since I’m limited in how much I can drink, my salivary gland swells up and I have very little saliva in my mouth. You feel like you have swollen glands but much more painful; this usually requires steroids and morphine for the pain.
• Fistulagrams. This is basically angioplasty for my arm to remove blood clots in the arm where the dialysis takes place. This is an outpatient procedure.
Extremely dry skin.
• Removing phosphorus from my blood. Before every meal and snack, I chew Tums to remove the phosphorus from my blood.
These are just some of the things I deal with. Some things are common among dialysis patients and some things remain unique among patient
The funds that I am asking help for will cover:
• Caregiver Expenses. Post hospital release, a caregiver must live with me for a month to monitor and document my recovery, including administering medications, and driving me to and from follow-up appointments.
• Lodging for Follow-up Appointments. The location where I will have the transplant is 1 ½ hours away from my home. The 1st two weeks after being released from the hospital, there are frequent follow-up appointments. It is best to reside close by the hospital especially during this time of the year. Transplant patients usually stay in a hotel. So there is a cost for those two weeks.
o Then once I’m back home, there is the cost of traveling back to the hospital for those less frequent follow-up appointments until I am cleared to drive again.
• My cost for the transplant
• 1st month of anti-rejection medications
It would mean a lot to me to see this through; and if you would like to assist me, I would be truly grateful.
Thank You in Advance,
Donna Henderson