Previous Life: I graduated in Virginia and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to begin a new career with Aristocrat Technologies as an Electrical Engineer. Everything was going great! I love living in Las Vegas (became engaged, enjoying my new career, became an avid hiker, mountain biking enthusiast, and a huge Golden Knights fan).
What Happened: Everything changed in May of 2017 when I was suddenly hospitalized. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare life-threatening disease known as Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) caused by e-Coli bacteria.
After having flu symptoms for over a week, I left work and was rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. I thought it was pancreatitis but was told it was kidney failure. I spent 21 days in the hospital with tests, biopsies, plasmapheresis, chemotherapy, dialysis. The doctors had hoped kidney function might return but I am still life dependent on dialysis every day, 7 days a week. Dialysis takes 4 hours of my day and I continue to work full time. After all this time, I am still in end stage kidney failure.
Kidney Transplant: The plan is for my mom to donate her kidney in the Paired Exchange Kidney Donation program at the UCLA Medical Center.
I spent a week at UCLA going through extensive testing to see if I was healthy enough to receive a kidney. The test results revealed that I am a healthy candidate to receive.
COST: The average cost of a kidney transplant in the United States is ~$400,000. My medical insurance will not cover it all. Currently estimates have me paying around 10-20% of the total cost. I will need to stay in a hotel near the UCLA Medical Center for 2-3 months after surgery and continue to see the transplant surgeons while recovering. There is basic hotel room that has shuttle for the UCLA patients near the Medical Center that I will need to stay at for about $200/night.
With sincere gratitude I hope you will consider helping me.
Stephen Shaffer
*Venmo username: @stevengineer
What Happened: Everything changed in May of 2017 when I was suddenly hospitalized. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare life-threatening disease known as Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) caused by e-Coli bacteria.
After having flu symptoms for over a week, I left work and was rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. I thought it was pancreatitis but was told it was kidney failure. I spent 21 days in the hospital with tests, biopsies, plasmapheresis, chemotherapy, dialysis. The doctors had hoped kidney function might return but I am still life dependent on dialysis every day, 7 days a week. Dialysis takes 4 hours of my day and I continue to work full time. After all this time, I am still in end stage kidney failure.
Kidney Transplant: The plan is for my mom to donate her kidney in the Paired Exchange Kidney Donation program at the UCLA Medical Center.
I spent a week at UCLA going through extensive testing to see if I was healthy enough to receive a kidney. The test results revealed that I am a healthy candidate to receive.
COST: The average cost of a kidney transplant in the United States is ~$400,000. My medical insurance will not cover it all. Currently estimates have me paying around 10-20% of the total cost. I will need to stay in a hotel near the UCLA Medical Center for 2-3 months after surgery and continue to see the transplant surgeons while recovering. There is basic hotel room that has shuttle for the UCLA patients near the Medical Center that I will need to stay at for about $200/night.
With sincere gratitude I hope you will consider helping me.
Stephen Shaffer
*Venmo username: @stevengineer