$1 for Woz

You know the saying “you don’t know what anyone else is struggling with”?   That hit home for me May 2019.  As all the teachers got ready to head out for a summer of relaxing and fun, a last email popped up in the inbox.  It started like this:

Dear Family and Friends,

My name is Wesley Wozgen. Some of you may or may not know that I have kidney disease.  Over time my kidney disease has gotten worse causing my kidneys not to work well enough to keep functioning.  This is what I’m facing now, and my treatment options are limited to dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant.

I do dialysis treatments every night at home for 9 hours at a time.  This helps my kidneys do their job and keep me alive, but a transplant would offer me more freedom and the ability to a live longer, healthier, and a more normal life.  A transplant would also give me more time to do the things I love like impacting the lives of my students. I also would be able to spend more time with family, friends and my favorite person-my grandson.

I saw Wesley (Woz) every day.  Counseling students, teaching classes, coaching.  He NEVER let on he was ill.  He never missed a step that any of us noticed.  He hid his suffering, pain, and fear well. 

   
I felt bad for him, but I didn’t know anything I could really do about it.  I didn’t qualify to be tested as a donor.  So, in this age of social media, I forwarded his email out and said a prayer.

Starting back to school in Aug, I was cleaning up my inbox and came across his letter again.  This time I had an idea.  I connected my dear husband and Woz and they set up Woz’s car to be a driving billboard asking for help.  Woz set up the WozNeedsKidney Facebook group. I shared it on every forum out there and life rolled on.
   
The waiting was taking a toll on Woz.  He never said much, but you could see the burden beginning to weigh on him. 

THEN, came winter.  AND our hero.

Tyler came across the Facebook post/group.  He called the number to be tested.  It was a match.  More testing.  More matching.  Then, he and Woz were able to meet.  We got to know Tyler’s incredible story.
 
You see, this wasn’t the first time Tyler had been tested to be a kidney donor.  Tyler lived in Ohio and there is a precious mom there (Kidney4Michelle) who is also in need of a donor.  Tyler and she matched perfectly all the way up to literally the last test where the blood is mixed, and it became clear her body would not accept his kidney.  For most people, that would have satisfied their altruistic instincts.

 Not. Our. Hero. 


Without skipping a beat, he went out and found another person who might need him…..our precious Woz.  And they have set a date!  April 17, 2020.   We are beyond excited for this union,  

The WozNeedsKidney family reached out to Woz and Tyler to see what their needs might be during this prep, surgery, post recovery period. 

Ya’ll……

This was Tyler’s response:

I knew going in there would be expenses and have been saving up a bit for them.  It’s your gift Wesley. Friends don’t pay each other back for gifts.

Cue the onions, right?!   Told you he was true hero.

But we need more heroes.  While Tyler’s expenses will be covered, they will also be finite.  His gift will keep on giving but luckily the financial cost will quickly end for him. 

For Woz, this won’t be the case.  While he may be turning in his dialysis machine and dancing a jig, he will also be accruing lifelong financial costs. 

To begin with, he has a $4,000 deductible for the surgery.  Then, he will be out of work for several weeks.  He will have a life of dr. visits, scans, and meds that he will gladly accept, but they come with a cost he will need our help to cover. 

So please, Win one for Woz, became Won one for Woz when Tyler rode to his rescue.  Now, to have the happily ever after we all want let’s make it $1 for Woz.  $1, $10, $100, $1000 nothing to small (or too big ).  We are shooting for $10,000.  Hopefully, we will reach that before the transplant in April.  Go Team Woz!!