Anna's Kidney Transplant Funds

Dear Friends and Family, 

As many of you know, and some of you may not yet know, I was diagnosed with a form of Chronic Kidney Disease, called Alport’s Syndrome, a few years ago. This has meant that my kidneys have slowly been declining, and I recently reached end stage renal failure, meaning I now require a kidney transplant. We are in the middle of the process of finding a donor, but have found a strong candidate in my sister, Tori. Tori is incredibly gracious and is fully on board with donating. I am so thankful for her and for the many who have offered/tried to become donors for me. I am consistently amazed at the generosity of those around me! 

We are shooting for a transplant date of this spring, or early summer. Thus, as the date approaches, I am realizing, through the wisdom of others, that I should start taking steps to prepare for transplant, not only mentally and physically, but also financially. 

At this point, we don’t know exactly how much everything will cost. I have health insurance, and we’re hoping to jump into Medicare also and have that cover some of the extra expenses coming in from the transplant, but we recognize that with the costs of a transplant reaching upwards of $300,000 (and extra expenses for travel, lodging, anti-rejection meds,  etc.), the amount I need to cover could yet be in the tens of thousands.  The number we've set here is thus around 10% of the projected costs (obviously hoping that health insurance and Medicare will cover the rest). 

Thus, I am asking if you would be willing to partner with me in helping to cover some of these costs. I ask you to do so carefully, recognizing that I only want funds to come in and go towards genuine need, and not just to make this process more comfortable. Thus, I am creating several security checks on this, in order to make sure that happens:
1) We have created a separate “for the benefit of” bank account to collect all funds. These kinds of accounts are designed specifically for needs such as this, and it allows us to keep track of and make sure the correct funds given are being used for medical and related expenses. The funds from GoFundMe will be directly wired into that account. You can also donate to that account directly by writing a check to: Anna’s Transplant Benefit. 
2) I have asked several people to be accountability partners for us in this process. Thus, they will have access to view the funds going in and out of this account, helping to make sure they are being used wisely and correctly. 
3) Since we don’t know how much everything will cost yet, I have picked Congo Impact to receive the possibility of extra funds beyond what is needed. You can check out all that they do here: https://congoimpact.org/

I want you to know that I desire to invite you into a process with me. I don’t want to merely ask for financial assistance, but for your partnership as I step into a challenging journey. Thus, I will be posting a series of videos that further explain my disease, what God has been teaching me through it, introduce you to my donor, etc. I also want you to feel free to ask any questions, ask to meet up for coffee, whatever! 

Thank you for taking the time to read through all this, and more importantly, for your friendship!

With gratitude, 
Anna Vollema