Support Emilio Chavez's Kidney Transplant Recovery

As many of you know, my son Emilio Chavez has been battling a kidney disease called nephrotic syndrome since he was 1 year old. In May of 2023 at 14 years old he went into kidney failure and was started on peritoneal dialysis (PD) treatments; which were 10 hours a day every day (we usually ran treatments throughout the night). It has been a life-changing experience for him; not just for him, for the whole family too as we all had to adjust to this new way of living and being supportive in every way we could.

Yesterday, we got a call that we have been waiting for ever since starting PD. There is a kidney that's a perfect match for him! I drove with him the following day and have been at the hospital doing all that's required to start his transplant surgery. His transplant surgery began at 6 a.m. this morning and will last about 6 hours.

After surgery we will be facing another difficult season , the recovering, monitoring his body/recovery, and doing all the things to minimize the chances of his disease returning/returning stronger. Priority is making sure he heals correctly and the new kidney functions 100%. In order to do this it requires a stay near the hospital which is 4 hours away from our home. We are told this process can take up to 3 months.

I know this will cause a hardship on my family with Emilio and I being gone for that period of time. It is a financial stress, with expenses, cost of food and living, some things insurance doesn't cover, some helping programs are exhausted, and bills at home don't wait.

My absence from work greatly impacts our financial stability. With all this in mind I’m reaching out to ask for help during this time.

With all this being said, I want to say I'm humbled and couldn’t be more thankful this Thanksgiving for this blessing! God’s timing and planning is truly perfect! We want to say thank you to those that have helped out in different ways and been there for us these past years. We send our condolences to the family that lost a person in their life but took to heart to donate and give life to another. I am truly humbled, and filled with joy, nerves, sadness, and tears of gratitude all at once. Thank you all in advance on behalf of my son, family, and I.