THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND THANK GOD FOR AILEY

The site was updated on July 26, 2009
ANA and AILEY ARE HOME !!!!
On September 16th, Ailey and Ana were joined by their faith and a kidney donated by Ailey to Ana. On September 19th Ailey was able to leave the hospital and return to her loving family on September 25th. Ana came home October 4th.
Ailey's gift of life to Ana, one of Ailey's kidneys, is working perfectly. Ailey and Ana are in the picture above three days after their surgeries. Ailey is on the right. Please read the Good News on the right side of the web site!!

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.

This website was started in January 2009 to help find someone willing to donate a gift of life - a kidney to my wife Ana. No one in our family could donate. Everyone was the wrong blood type, too young, too old or not healthy enough to donate.

Meanwhile dialysis was not working for Ana. Ana was allergic to the dialysis filters and clotting the dialysis machine. We moved Ana to Hopkins after one hospital gave up on Ana after finding out Ana was “highly sensitized.” Hopkins told us that with a PRA of 98, the odds of finding a good match for Ana was very small.

We had to look for a donor. Ana was on the waiting list for a kidney but the wait was estimated at 15 years. Ana did not have long. We did not have to look alone. Friends put information about Ana on their websites and stores, held an art show to let people know about Ana and arranged a newspaper article about Ana. Other friends started prayer circles and forwarded emails about Ana, triggering a chain email that reached even overseas. We started this website and even looked for a donor on Craigslist. We asked Fr Taylor at St Patrick's Church to help. Fr Taylor included information about Ana in the St Patrick church bulletin. And we prayed for a miracle.

Ten brave and generous people volunteered and were tested but were not a match. The eleventh person tested was a wonderful lady named Ailey Ellis. We did not find Ailey. Ailey found Ana. The way that Ailey found Ana can only be described as a miracle.
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Ailey thank you for the blessing and gift that you are. Father Taylor, thank you for your act of compassion. Thank you to all our friends who helped us through these difficult times. And thank you to all of you who tested to be a donor for Ana. Johns Hopkins won't tell us who you were but God knows who you are. Thank you to all the wonderful people at Johns Hopkins. And thank you everyone at St Patrick Church and School.

God bless.

James 5:13-16

There is a newspaper article about Ana at

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/032008/03302008/362394

There is a newspaper article about Tom Koontz at

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/072009/07112009/479158

If you are looking for a kidney transplant and your donor does not match you, please call Johns Hopkins and ask about their Paired Donor program. The doctors and nurses and staff at Johns Hopkins are absolutely the best. Johns Hopkins can transplant an incompatible kidney and Johns Hopkins has a paired donor program that may be what you are looking for. Information on Johns Hopkins is at the bottom of this page. If you want information please let us know and we will do what we can to help. Blessings everyone.

July 26, 2009 - Everything is going super

We decided to keep this website up a while in case someone who needed a kidney transplant, or their loved one, was searching on the internet to find out about kidney transplants. Hopefully someone who has a kidney donor, but their donor is not a cross match will keep reading this and contact Johns Hopkins Hospital.

It has been about 10 months since Ailey donated Ana a kidney. It took Ailey several weeks to get better but Ailey is doing fine. Ana is doing well also, taking her daily pills (all kidney transplant patients take a lot of pills) and seeing the doctors regularly for follow up biopsies, check ups and weekly blood tests.

Ana is more or less back to her regular activities, painting and attending her art gallery events and meeting and talking to people. Those of you who know Ana know that - as our daughter Sophie says it - "Mommy is very social." Ana is still wearing a mask when she goes to small places with a lot of people but that is not a problem. Still have to be careful. Ana is susceptible to the flu and other bugs that could set her back. But otherwise Ana is fine.

There is another hero at St Patrick Church in Spotsylvania. Tom (Dody) Koontz who read about Ana in the church bulletin decided he wanted to donate a kidney. Tom's daughter, Sage, was operated on for a brain tumor in 2007 and underwent successful surgery. There is a newspaper article about Tom who said "Sage was the inspiration for all of this. I was trying to give back to God." Tom's donation of a kidney to a stranger set off the world's largest paired donation this summer. Sixteen surgeries later, eight donors had given eight kidneys to eight people who needed a transplant. Robert Montgomery MD, the Chief of Transplants at Johns Hopkins said that Tom "essentially starts the dominos falling." There is a great article about Tom at

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/072009/07112009/479158

Johns Hopkins was considering Ana for the Paired Donor program but when a nearly perfect Ailey came along they decided that there would not be a more perfect match. So if you are wondering about Ana, there is where we are. Nearly a year and everything is going great. Ailey is doing fine. Ana is doing fine. Life is good. Thank you everyone. Thank you Jesus.

Please take the time to sign our Guestbook and if you want to contact us please email rescue_ana@comcast.net

For information on the John Hopkins Transplant Center, Kidney Donation and Transplants please click on the following links.

John Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center

National Kidney Foundation

UNOS Transplant Living for Donors