Bair Hugger Blankets for Dialysis Units

Hi folks, I can’t believe I’m doing this but I’ve thought about it for a while and realise that maybe the best way and only way is to reach out for public support.

I am a 32 yr old woman with Cystic Fibrosis living with the complicated ups and downs of having had a liver transplant when I was just 19. I have diabetes and many other things to juggle which make my healthcare somewhat demanding and very time consuming.

In Dec 22 I got sepsis from a severe E-Coli infection impeding on my appendix which later required surgery. The ordeal shocked my kidneys and weakened them severely that by the time sepsis hit me with a bang the second time I lost the tiny little bit of function I had left in them hanging by a very loose thread.

Dialysis is tough on the body but it is a vital treatment for people with renal failure who may or may not be a candidate for a transplant. There are different types of dialysis to suit the patient’s lifestyle and needs. Haemodialysis involves lying on a bed for 3-4 hours three or four times a week while you are hooked up to a machine that filters your blood and returns it to your body. The process takes time. If you are like me, you are totally dependant on dialysis to remove not only waste products but fluid because I do not have any urine output whatsoever unlike patients who do still produce some.

Now, to the point!

Dialysis patients often feel very cold while their blood is leaving their body. Regular blankets can help but I have many times had a mountain of them on top of me and laid crying on my bed with the chill going down my spine.

“Bair Hugger” blankets are available to dialysis patients in ICU and they are a great comfort but both dialysis units I attend don’t have any Bair Huggers for patients and sometimes no matter how many blankets you try to wrap yourself in, you are still FREEZING while your blood is being circulated!

The Bair Hugger is an inflatable air-warming device that can be plugged into a disposable blanket. It warms up straight away and makes the experience of dialysis that more bearable.

I’m really hoping that I might raise enough money to buy some Bair Hugger blankets for the dialysis units I attend at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and University Hospital Limerick. I can’t get my head around why they are available in ICU and not on the dialysis units where they would really be a comfort to the patients on dialysis.

I have set my target as low as I think will be able to cover the cost of enough blankets that will see a noticeable difference to as many people receiving dialysis as I can. I may change the target as I do more research into the full financial cost of the blankets.

If you can donate anything at all, big or small, I’d be so grateful! In my wildest dreams I would eat my right arm before I would ask anyone for a penny but I don’t know any other way. I feel very cheeky asking for donations but I promise these air-warming blankets are so needed and we really do deserve them if we can only afford them.

Thank you for reading and/or donating or even just sharing around social media, that really helps - I can’t do this on my own.

Thanks again for taking the time to read and consider this cause :)

All my love,

~ Shauna