My name is Dean and over the winter break, I almost lost my life to Sepsis.

I suffer from Chronic Kidney Disease, but this was only recently made clear to me after developing my fourth kidney stone in the last 13 years. Since my last stone in 2019, I had done what I thought I needed to improve my health habits and diet to avoid having stones again. So when I woke up on Christmas Day, struggling to walk, struggling to breathe, in extreme pain, and feeling sick- I had not expected that I would have an 8mm and 3mm kidney stone or that the stone had caused me to become Septic.

I went to the emergency room on December 26th, and spent five terrifying days in the hospital as I went from the ER to the ICU and nurses struggled to get my blood pressure up and my heart rate down. One of the night nurses in particular had me asking, "Am I going to make it?" They managed to get the infection down and place a stent in, however the urologist said I would need a lithortripsy to remove the stone. Alas, the New Year's weekend was coming up, and they sent me home trembling with a low-grade fever, pain, and fear as the lithotripsy was never done and they told me I needed to schedule it later.

Later came, and it turns out, despite the urologist saying I need this procedure, the hospital considers it an "elective procedure". I am a full-time college student and a full-time stay-at-home dad with no health insurance. The hospital wants me to pay the full amount out of pocket up front since I am a self-pay patient. I could not afford it.

I ended up BACK in the ER in February for another 5-day hospital stay because of awful pain from my kidney. They had me on "no-eating" protocol for two days, always saying the next day they would perform the lithotripsy finally. But I had an infection again, so once again they ended up telling me last minute, after having not eaten for 24 hours, that they were going to send me home with antibiotics and that I would have to schedule the lithotripsy. This time, the urologist warned me, if I do not have this procedure within the next month, my risk of losing my kidney is extremely high.

I am at a loss. I have applied for Harris Health Financial Assistance to no avail and other financial assistance programs have a wait time that I cannot manage in this particular circumstance. PLEASE, if you can, help me save my kidney. Help me get my life back.