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Lorena’s transplant fund

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This might be a little more information than what you bargained for, having subscribed to AlexRamiGaming, expecting all fun and Fortnite, but here we are. First and foremost I want to thank Alex for his help in making this happen, and to thank you, RamiNation, for taking some time to read this at least.
I'm 20 years old now, turning 21 on the 29th of July! I was diagnosed with kidney failure at the age of 14, right after staring my freshman year of high school. For those of you who don't know, your kidneys filter your blood 24/7, and produce the pee where your body releases all the bad toxins. So, for someone who's kidneys aren't working, they have this marvelous horrid thing called dialysis, which is basically a machine that filters your blood. Either 3-4 hours, 3 times a day. I started dialysis just a few months after being diagnosed. We didn't know why I got sick, there is no family history of anything, so it was kinda weird. A year later, when I started getting worked up for my transplant, finally we had an answer. I was diagnosed with lupus. Lupus, an autoimmune disease, where my own immune system is fighting itself, killing my organs. More commonly kidney failure, arthritis, and slowly other vital organs. This was almost 7 years ago, and I'm starting to show significant damage to my bones, heart, liver, and lungs. I got a transplant in September of 2013, and from the start it was all bad. I was already waiting to be wheeled down to the OR when my surgeon came up and told me that the family decided to do a direct donation. Basically they get to choose who the organs go to. I was trying to be strong, but at 16, and having a few hours to process everything, making plans for my future, so excited to get off of dialysis because it is so so so draining and exhausting and you really can't have a normal life, and having to hear "you might not get the kidney" is not really something to be able to keep strong. He told me, I could wait there because they weren't sure if the family member was ready, or get back on the list and wait who knows how long for another kidney. I took my chance, and they kidney hit it's 24 hour mark out of a body cavity when it finally came back from UCLA to Vegas. Everything was going good, until two months after surgery, I started showing signs of rejection. I was hospitalized for 7 months, undergoing heavy heavy rejection treatments, chemo, and even treatments that were still in clinical trial. It was the most exhausting thing I've ever been through, it was kinda like a blur because I was sedated a lot, and it got to the point where the doctors decided that the risk of me getting mcancer being exposed to so much drug, was way higher than the benefit of saving a kidney that had only 30% function left, and was showing the same disease as my native kidneys, meaning lupus was invading. They set me free for a few months, until I had to end up on dialysis again. It's been 4 years, and in those four years, I've been in a coma from suffering seizures on a plane, I've been listed at Stanford with supposed priority, but because i had the transplanted kidney removed, i have something called high antibodies (100% to be exact) meaning that i am not compatible with anybody right now. I've been undergoing the same rejection treatments which include heavy doses of chemo, for over a year now. I've been going at first only once a month, but now, on top of my three times a week dialysis, I go in for twice a week chemo on my off days. My lupus has been very active, and I have been having swelling in my heart, and some hepatic issues that if it doesn't get under control soon, I'm going to be looking at a double transplant. All in all, my health has been deteriorating rapidly, and I want to thank Alex first of all because ask y'all can imagine, anxiety is a very good friend of mine, and watching his streams distract me.
I am listed at Stanford, in Palo Alto California. It's a 10 hour drive from Vegas, and when I get the call, I have to be there ASAP. Meaning, buying plane tickets, getting an uber from the San Jose airport to Stanford (which is 45 min away) and housing for my mom, because I am such a high risk case, that we're looking at 6 months of recovery out there before I can come back. Palo Alto is not cheap. I recently had to go for surgery, and luckily I was able to stay in the hospital, but a motel 6 is over $250 a night. Food over there? My mom preferred to eat whatever they brought in for me. Any little bit will help for when that day comes, and if you can't do monetary donation, I would appreciate if you signed up to be an organ donor at the following link!
https://www.organdonor.gov/register.html
(Yes it's legit- just select your state and follow the directions.)

Fundraising team: RamiNation (2)

Lorena Ranjel
Organizer
Raised $65 from 3 donations
Las Vegas, NV
Nestor Alejandro Chavez Ramirez
Team member
Raised $130 from 9 donations

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