To spread the word of a life giving need &, with faith, bring awareness to anyone that is interested in becoming a living kidney donor & saving her life. Understanding that simply asking someone to donate a kidney just is not fair, it is our hope & prayer that we simply share our story & have faith that someone will come forward. – The Brown Family & Friends
In January of 2014 Mom was diagnosed with a rare condition called Vasculitus. Vasculitus is an inflammation of the blood vessels that causes changes in the blood vessel walls, potentially leading to a thickening, narrowing, & weakening of the vessel walls cutting off vital blood supply to tissues and organs.
While following a treatment plan Mom began to experience improvements in her symptoms & was scheduled for a routine physical examination in the Spring of 2014. It was during that physical examination that doctors discovered Mom’s kidney functions had experienced more than a 60% decline, leaving her with kidney functions roughly one third of the functions of a healthy person’s kidneys. Within a month Mom met with a nephrologist & was diagnosed with a disease called. A nephropathy. IgA nephropathy is a kidney disease that occurs when an antibody called immunoglobulin A (IgA) builds up in your kidneys. This results in local inflammation that, over time, can hamper your kidneys’ ability to filter waste from your blood. Resulting in progressive kidney failure.
In January of 2016, after over a year & a half of consistent treatment & monitoring, Mom was officially placed on Vanderbilt Medical Center’s National Kidney Transplant List as a candidate to receive a donated kidney. After having a peritoneal dialysis catheter surgically implanted, two years later, in January of 2018 in order for Mom to survive she began a daily peritoneal dialysis regimen that is methodically & faithfully continued to this very day to sustain her life.
Anyone interested in being a donor, regardless of blood type, can be a life saving donor for Mom by participating in what is called The Paired Exchange Program.
Mom is O+ blood type - anyone with O blood type can directly donate to Mom after meeting the required heath standards.