Kelly’s Kidney Transplant Help!

I write this with a heavy heart, and the most unbelievable disappointment & heartbreak I have ever felt in my life until this point.

This is my best friend Kelly, who is in need of a life-saving kidney transplant. Due to circumstances completely out of her control, she had an infection turn septic and attack her lungs & kidneys a couple years ago. While her lungs recovered, she ended up in kidney failure. This past April, her story went viral after the Pittsburgh Penguins posted on their Twitter page a picture of her with a sign asking for a kidney donor. At that time, I gave a call to action, for all my able-bodied friends & family to get tested to see if they were a match. I also announced that I was in the process of being tested.

Our story is so much more than that.

I started the testing process back in February with Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. A few months later, it came back that I was not only a match, but a sibling-level match! Needless to say, to have the honor of saving my best friend’s life wasn’t something I questioned or wavered on at any step. I went through the full-day evaluation appointment, did some extra testing, and we finally had a surgery date of August 30th. Kelly & I both prepared ourselves with the life-changing day ahead of us, telling employers, family, and friends. 

Exactly one week before our surgery, my team at Johns Hopkins called & disqualified me from being Kelly’s donor, for reasons they had known about for months prior, and without any clear explanation as to why. I am okay and healthy, but some combination of my anatomy & age make me a less-than-ideal candidate at this time (even though I am such a strong match). 

I’m sure you can imagine how devastated we are, and how defeating it is to go so far and now be back at square one. Kelly has since moved her care to UPMC in Pittsburgh, the #1 transplant center in the country. I have no doubts they will give her, and whoever her donor ends up being, the best care possible. 

After Kelly has surgery, she is facing a months-long recovery ahead of her. In that time, she will not be able to work, thus losing her income. She has also already started to acquire medical bills that will only pile up further once she has her life-saving transplant.

Kelly refuses to give up, and I refuse to give up. It has been a heartbreaking couple of weeks, but we have new resolve and a newfound sense of hope.

Whether you can donate a lot or a little, every dollar- every PENNY- will help Kelly get through the fight for her life. All money raised will help her with household & medical bills. There is enough stress she has to deal with, and how she is going to pay the bills should not be a worry. Please help this incredible, sweet, loving, and wonderful bestie of mine!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart (Kelly's too!) for listening to this story & helping out a young woman with so much life left to live.  #akidneyforkelly

(If you are able and willing, please get tested and see if you are a match! The phone number for UPMC is [phone redacted]. This is the main number and you can ask to be directed to the Living Kidney Donor coordinator. They will help you the rest of the way from there!)