"Two Organs: One New Me" : Caleb's Transplant Journey

As most of you know, Caleb McAlister is currently in Florida waiting on a lung and liver transplant. Without this transplant, he will not survive due to a RARE Genetic Disorder that he has been battling for the past two years. Because his disorder is so rare, there are only a few hospitals within the states that would accept him and treat him. We are so thankful for the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, for not giving up and for trying everything they can to save his life.

For the next few months, Caleb and Bonnie will be temporarily living in Florida while he waits for transplant, goes through rehab and recovery, and attends multiple appointments per week to balance out his new medications. Doctors will be monitoring him very closely to make sure his body accepts these new organs. His wife Bonnie will be his caregiver with his sister Savannah pitching in in case Bonnie gets sick.

This family has been a second family to me since I was 3 years old. Savannah is my sister just not by blood and Caleb and Kenley have always been the annoying big brothers to us. Ms. Bev and Danny Mac have been a second mom and dad and have always helped me as well as a million other people when they needed it. Coming from a person who lived in a hospital for 8 months, you don’t realize how quickly the expenses uncontrollably stack up! Without the help of my community, there is no way we could have made it and I have always said, if I could ever give back to the people that openly helped me out that I would. Because of this, I am setting up a GoFundMe account for Caleb and his family. They are fixing to have to live in Florida potentially up to a year while maintaining their house in Falkner. Bonnie, Caleb’s wife, has had to quit her job to become a full time caregiver for Caleb and has had to pull her children out of school to homeschool them in efforts to temporarily move the family to Florida. That is a house note back home, house rental in Florida, 2 electricity bills, 2 water bills etc… on top of the move, he will have numerous doctor bills, plus the gas and food from one place to the other, I could go on and on. This would a huge financial burden on anyone, and we as a community can assist him and his family as they have done for many of us in our time of need. Whether it be $5-$10, I personally know that anything will help tremendously and put a person’s mind at ease. So please help if you feel led to, and if you can’t at this time, please pray for this family especially over the next few weeks as he waits patiently for new lungs and a new liver. May God Bless You All and Thank you!