Kidney for Claudia

Hi friends, I am so pleased to report that after a difficult 16 days, the kidney has begun to wake up!
In just the last few days, the kidney has shown small improvements. The doctors believe it will keep improving slowly, and Claudia is on her way HOME.
Thank you ALL for your love and prayers- this truly is answered prayer, and just when things didn’t look hopeful, God reminded us that He is in control and His timing is perfect.
It is also very fitting that exactly one year ago today, this page was launched, and Claudia’s search for a kidney began. Exactly one year later, she is going home with a kidney.
Please continue to keep her recovery in your prayers, and pray that the kidney will continue to improve!

It has been 11 months since our last post.
In that time, there was simply no word regarding the possibility of a match from either a living or a deceased donor.
Last week, that all changed when Claudia received the call that she was a match to a deceased donor. We praise God that the surgery was successful, however after one week, the kidney has not yet started working.
It has been a long week, and while Claudia and her family remain hopeful, she needs your prayers. Please pray that the kidney will wake up and start functioning.
We believe that with God, all things are possible, and we continue to trust in Him.
Thank you!

Since our initial post last month, there have been a few individuals who have come forward to be tested. We are extremely grateful for these wonderful people!
HOWEVER; it could take months before we learn if these individuals are the right match.
During this waiting time, we are praying for the following:
1) That at least ONE of the potential donors will be the perfect match;
2) That more individuals (with blood type O- or O+) volunteer to be tested. The higher the number of volunteers, the higher Claudia’s chances will be.

Please continue to share this page and contact us at [email protected] if kidney donation feels right for you.

We have received some questions about whether O positive or O negative blood is accepted. The good news is that BOTH are acceptable.

Please email us at [email protected] if you are considering kidney donation.

WHO CAN BE A LIVING DONOR?

Anyone who is healthy can be a living donor.
The age of consent to be a living donor varies from 16 - 19 depending on the province in which you live. They must be in good general health with no evidence of significant high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, heart disease or hepatitis.
Source: The Kidney Foundation of Canada

Contact us by email at [email protected] if you are blood type 0 (positive or negative) and want to learn more.

Melanie is a kidney donor. Check out her story below:

Melanie - Kidney Donor

Don't know the first thing about becoming a living donor? We didn't either. Here is a fantastic resource that can help you decide if it is the right thing for you.

Are you eligible to be a living kidney donor Living Kidney Donor Eligibility Any adult who is in good health can be assessed to become a living donor. Every potential donor must have a complete medical checkup to make sure they are healthy enough to donate a kidney to a person in need. However, there are many factors that must be considered. B...

If you are blood type O and want to learn more about the process of becoming a donor, please contact us at [email protected]

Friends,
Please take a minute to read about my friend Claudia. A year and a half ago her life took a drastic turn when she discovered she developed an autoimmune disease which quickly led to end-stage kidney failure. She is on dialysis and is dire need of a kidney.
If you are blood type O please like and follow this page to learn about what it takes to be a living donor. If you are not the same blood type, please follow this page and share it widely with your friends and family.
And last but definitely not least, please PRAY that a match can be found quickly. This is an opportunity where Facebook can be used to save a life. Thank you!

Claudia's Story:

September 2021, Claudia’s life changed forever. After struggling with episodes of extreme nausea over the course of a few weeks, Claudia made a visit to her family doctor. The doctor ordered blood tests, and it was soon revealed that her creatinine levels were dangerously high. Her doctor called her and told her to go to the ER immediately. After 2 nights in the Brockville General Hospital, she was transferred to the Kingston General Hospital. After 4 days at KGH and many more tests, she received the unsettling news that she had IGA Nephropathy, an auto immune disease where an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) builds up in your kidneys. This results in inflammation that, over time, can hamper your kidneys' ability to filter waste from your blood.
IGA Nepropathy can develop slowly over time and can be managed with medication. Better yet, some patients can develop complete remission. For others less fortunate, the disease can lead to end-stage kidney failure. For Claudia, having had to process in just a few short days that she had developed an auto immune disease, the news quickly went from bad to worse when the doctors revealed the worst-case scenario: she was experiencing end-stage renal failure.
Any hopes she had of managing an auto-immune disease with medication and returning to life as normal were quickly dissipated. She was hit with the harsh reality that life would no longer be as she once knew it; to continue to live, she must go on dialysis or receive a kidney transplant.
For 3 months, Claudia and her husband Barclay made daily trips to Kingston to receive dialysis. Each session was 4 hours long- not including the hour drive there and back. During that time, they learned that Claudia was a candidate for home dialysis- a machine could be delivered and set up in their home and once they received the training, they could do it on their own. This was a huge blessing as the dialysis could be done at night while she was sleeping, which freed up her days for her to return to some sense of normalcy.
“Normal” in this sense however, is not what they had ever envisioned. Their cozy bedroom was converted to a hospital room. Their linen closet, once filled with sheets and towels, was now stocked with medical supplies. Showers were a thing of the past as Claudia had a catheter in her chest that could not get wet. Then minor surgery to create an AV fistula in her arm. Showers returned, only to be replaced with a bulging vein and scarring in her left arm. Meal time soon became a juggling act of ensuring the food she was eating was helping her and not poisoning her. Simply drinking water was also weighed against her fluid levels to make sure her body didn’t hold too much fluid.
And the most difficult part of her new “normal’? Facing the reality that every time she hooks herself up to the dialysis machine, she is facing the risk of: Infection. Blood clots. Stroke. Sepsis. Sudden Cardiac arrest.
The irony of dialysis is that although it extends life and promotes better health for people with kidney failure, it causes many other problems including dizziness , nausea, low blood pressure , muscle cramps, sleep problems, anemia, bone diseases, fluid overload, pericarditis, high potassium levels and depression.
Despite these risks, dialysis became the way of life for Claudia and her family for over a year. Until recently, the new normal became disrupted when Claudia began to develop some new symptoms. She began having heart palpitations and was having trouble breathing. She could barely walk up the stairs.
She is now receiving tests for these symptoms. In the meantime, the doctors have subscribed Erythropoietin to increase her hemoglobin levels.
The onset of these new symptoms was a wakeup call. While dialysis has been a blessing, she was reminded that something could go wrong at any minute. Her health could decline further, or worse- she could die. While medication is also a blessing, it is the constant dance of something going wrong and fixing it; then something else going wrong and fixing it that has led her to believe this is not the life for her. There has to be something better. It is time to consider having a transplant.
While Claudia has been on the list for a deceased kidney donor, the wait is long, and patients with more extreme and life threatening conditions are chosen first. Receiving a kidney from a living donor is the more viable option, an option that is becoming more and more desirable with each day that passes and with every new symptom she experiences.
The average life expectancy of a person on dialysis is 5-10 years. The average life expectancy of a recipient of a kidney transplant from a deceased donor is 8-12 years. A recipient of a living donor can live 12- 20 years.
Claudia has so much to live for. She is a devoted wife, an amazing mother, a fun loving, loyal friend and a caring daughter to an aging mother (who resides in another country and is not able to visit in her condition). She has so much more life to live, a life without the constant fear of something going wrong, wondering if today is the day she has a stroke or cardiac arrest or worse. She deserves so much more.
Living donation is the right choice and the timing is right now.
If you have O blood type, please consider the possibility of kidney donation and the chance to save a life.