Hello, my name is Mari Santos. I am a mother of two beautiful girls in the Dominican Republic. I have been struggling with a devastating autoimmune disease called lupus since 2017. This disease strongly affects the kidneys, and as a result, I have been suffering from chronic kidney failure stage 5 for the past 3 years. Since then, the main course of treatment for the kidney failure has been dialysis.

The reason I have opened this account is to be able to purchase an apparatus that will make this dialysis more comfortable and safer for me.

For the past 3 years, I have been using a catheter that is recommended to just be used for up to 6 months. There are many grave risks with using this catheter; it is prone to infections which can be severe and even cause death. For this reason, I have looked into safer ways to receive dialysis and the one I am referring to here is called the HeRO Graft System. This system is made for people like me who are receiving dialysis long term and depend on a catheter for the treatment. It is completely under the skin, which lowers the risk of infection greatly. The goal amount of this fundraiser is to cover the price of this system and related costs.

This disease has been greatly affecting me and my family financially because of the extremely high costs of the treatments needed and also the length of treatment. Since it is chronic, I will be getting these treatments for the rest of my life or until I get new kidneys.

This money is also going to go towards the medical expenses needed to be kept on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, which include lab tests that are part of the transplant evaluation.