Transplant Housing and Travel Fund

Our son, Machen, requires a kidney transplant.  There are no hospitals in Idaho that perform this procedure, so he will have this done in Portland, Oregon which is 8 hours away.  We will need to remain within 1 hour of the hospital for at least 4-6 weeks (best case scenario) though possibly longer (possibly 12 weeks or so). We recently found out that due to an exemption my employer has in their contract with our medical insurance, that our insurance will not cover any travel, housing, or other living expenses while we are there.  While we hope that we can make use of the local Ronald McDonald house, we were told that there is sometimes a waiting list to get in.   We are asking for your help in raising some of the funds we need. Any funds raised over what we need for living expenses will be used to cover medical expenses not covered by our insurance.

We don't yet know when the transplant will take place, as we have been unable to find a compatible living donor.  Machen has been placed on a waiting list for a deceased donor kidney.  We would appreciate your prayers that a compatible kidney will be identified, that Machen's health decline will be minimal during this time, and for patience for us all as we wait.

You can follow us on this journey at The Backup Kidney, a blog we created to keep our friends and family informed.