KIDNEY DONOR NEEDED - HELP RESCUE ANA

When your kidneys fail your body is unable to clean your blood and you die. People use dialysis to clean their blood. But not for a regular lifetime. Kidney transplants allow people live to far longer than they would on dialysis. Many people die waiting for a kidney donor from a deceased person.

Our family first checked to see if we could donate a kidney to Ana but no one in our family is a “cross match” to Ana. A cross match is when blood type, tissue and antibodies from two people are nearly the same. If there is a cross match, a kidney donation and transplant is possible. Ana will get a transplant only if someone with Type O blood who is a good “cross match” will donate a kidney to Ana. Positive or negative blood type does not matter.

It is hard to ask but unless we ask - the very brave, generous and special person who wants to donate a kidney will not know about Ana and will not be able to say yes. So we have to ask.

Ana is “sensitized.” One out of every three people who need a kidney transplant is sensitized. This makes it much harder to find a donor that matches and can donate to Ana. Harder but certainly not impossible. People can be sensitized in different ways. A transfusion or a previous transplant can cause sensitivity. Many women become sensitized through pregnancy. Other people are sensitized because they just are. What this means is that we are searching for someone who has Type O blood (plus or minus does not matter), who is willing to be tested then donate a kidney, and who is sensitized similar to Ana. We have transferred Ana to John Hopkins Hospital that has a program for sensitized people like Ana and does transplants for sensitized people all the time. John Hopkins can help Ana.

If you want to be a donor - if you know you want to give the gift of life to Ana, please call our John Hopkins Transplant Coordinators - Athelene Henry at 410-614-6604 or Holly Christen at 410-502-5291. Athelene or Holly can mail you information on being a donor and arrange for you to be tested to see if you are a donor match for Ana. Your doctor will draw a tube of blood using a kit Hopkins will mail you. Your doctor will then mail this back to Hopkins for testing.

You must have Type O blood either positive or negative, be between the ages of 21 and 60, be healthy, not have hypertension and be normal weight. John Hopkins won't allow you to donate if it is not safe for you. Ana and I would not want you to donate if it was not safe for you. Our insurance covers all medical costs for you including testing. The surgery is laporoscopic, done with small incisions.

Please think about being the one brave generous person who can match to Ana and give her the gift of life. To find out more about being a kidney donor, you can email Ana or me at rescue_ana@comcast.net or call us at 703-851-2420. There is a newspaper article about Ana at http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/032008/03302008/362394

We understand if you read this letter and say "this is not for me." And that is OK. It is not for you. But if you believe in miracles, please say a prayer for Ana. Please think about being a donor. And please help us spread the word. God Bless.

You can help Ana find a kidney donor by downloading a LETTER by clicking below to send to your friends. Ask them to send it to their friends. It could be your email that finds Ana her gift of life.