Sao Lee, a mother of 7 has been fighting chronic kidney disease for over 3 years; on behalf of my mom and my family, we're asking for support to help us undergo a long medical journey alongside our mom as she is about to go into kidney transplant surgery on March 17th.

Words cannot explain how grateful my family is to the living donor who has gifted my mom a second opportunity and hope that one day we'd be able to give you our thanks in person.

My mom who has been the strongest anchor in the family was devasted 3 years ago in 2023 when she found out she all of a sudden had stage 4 chronic kidney disease, 23% kidney failure and has then been stressed and nervous for what's to come in the future. When the news fell upon my family, we all cried and I her son, 21 at the time volunteered to donate one of my kidney. Mom was so happy to have a family like us who was willing to sacrifice everything for her, but she sadly refused to see her own son live a life that isn't fulfilled and turn limited to what he's capable of and said that she'll fight and wait on the donor list instead.

My family operate a small food booth called Family Kitchen inside Hmong Village. My mom and us have been pushing through the days, months, and years to make ends meet as bills living cost are never ending. Throughout the years my mom pushed for new hires, but couldn't find someone who could comfortable take on her role, she kept working to ensure the shop doesn't fail.

She has been undergoing dialysis and lab testing throughout the months and years. Gradually forwarding to today 2026 of March, my mom's kidney is currently at stage 5, 7% failure.

March, the month of my mom's birthday (March 6th). Already struggling to make ends meet and while working in our little food booth in Hmong Village. She received a call on March 4th from the doctors... she has a match for a living kidney donor and ready to undergo transplant on March 17th. The tears of joy out of my mom was the greatest feeling of all time, my mom who has been the biggest support to my family, fighting her struggles and yet still working to sustain the rent, bills, utilities, food, and other necessities. We are so blessed and thankful to the living donor, to be donating their kidney and giving my mom a second chance right before her birthday, the biggest and best gift someone could ever ask for.

My family is now asking for your support. The funds will be used to cover out-of-pocket expenses towards transplant, daily needs and assistance for mom, medications, bills and rent, and future medical expenses. Your generosity will aid my mom's surgery, recovery, and family sustainability.

As of this posting, my family will be closing down our food booth Family Kitchen inside Hmong Village for a week or two as the family will be with momma in the hospital during her surgery and recovery. Momma will be in post-recovery for roughly 3-4 months. We will reopen in the following weeks because rent and bills don't magically pay for themselves. Once we do open, we will open with limited services only, but if you see us open, come by and support!

Thank you for your support and we'll keep you posted on how it's going!