Support Edward and Marissa's Kidney Transplant Journey

Hi everyone! As men’s mental health awareness month (June) comes to an end, I would like to share my dad’s (Edward) story on his behalf. As this may be lengthy, I strongly encourage you to hear his (and our family’s) story.

In January 2024, I had to make one of the toughest and unexpected decisions of my life and put one of our family dogs, Jax, down to end his suffering. As this traumatic event was hard on all of us, my mom (Marilyn) and I expressed our sadness and grief out loud amongst friends and family while my dad held it in and held it together (as most men do). As much as my dad complained about Jax and how he was such a pain in the butt, deep down he loved that dog more than he thought he would when I first brought him home 7 years ago. But on a serious note, men have always been expected to be the head of the household and show no weakness. This in return does nothing but damage. From the stress of that event, he tried to keep busy with work and anything he could to avoid getting an MRI that his Urologist ordered because of the symptoms my dad was having. This MRI was to rule out prostate cancer or any other abnormalities. Once he finally could not take his symptoms anymore, he went and got the MRI done. Thankfully there were no cancer cells found, but there was a blockage near his bladder that would require outpatient surgery, or “day surgery”. This outpatient surgery that typically requires no overnight stay in the hospital, turned into a 4-day hospital stay. Postoperative blood work showed that he was in End Stage Renal Disease (Stage 5 kidney disease) and severely anemic. This was a surprise to all of us considering he has no underlying conditions including no history of diabetes or high blood pressure (which are key symptoms for kidney failure) and no other symptoms of kidney failure. This was purely caused by the blockage he had and the damage it was doing to his kidneys without him even knowing. I remember the doctor telling us that had he gone another week like this, he would have dropped dead because his kidneys would be completely non- functioning at that point.

After the surgery and two blood transfusions, he was consulted with a Nephrologist. He was told there is a very small percentage that the damage that was done could be reversed but would check where his kidney function was in 1-2 months. He left the hospital with a kidney function of 8 and has been up and down (but stable at 12) for the most part. His Nephrologist recommended that he be seen at Methodist ASAP to get established and get on the transplant list because sooner or later, he was going to need one and the average wait time for a nonliving kidney donation is about 8 years. Since my dad has not been symptomatic while in Stage 5 Kidney Disease and his numbers have been stable, he has been able to avoid doing dialysis for now. From the day I found out my dad would need a kidney transplant, I knew I wanted to do all the testing I needed to do so I could help him resume as much of a normal life as possible because for 61 he is still so full of energy and spark.

After many trips already back and forth from Methodist in San Antonio back to Victoria, we know this is not going to be an inexpensive journey. With my dad and I both being out of work for 6 weeks for recovery and my mom having to stay in a hotel in San Antonio while my dad is in the hospital for 5-7 days after the surgery, we know funds are going to start getting tighter than they already are because of the surgery cost alone. This goal amount also includes traveling expenses and lodging as there are many, many follow up appointments at Methodist San Antonio for both my dad and I weeks and months after the surgery.

My family and I are asking for any donation amount and lots and lots of prayers as we continue this life changing journey.