Help Justin with Kidney Failure and Transplant

Our friend Justin needs our help, and unfortunately, he needs it urgently. A little bit about his story below..

 

Justin was born with a chromosome deficiency called Congenital Adrenal hyperplasia. Because of this – Justin has been on Steroids in order to live a normal life. Unfortunately, these steroids come with serious side effects.

 

These steroids slow the healing process and put stress on his adrenal glands. The last thing you want while taking these steroids is injury.

 

In 2018 – Justin ended up in the ER and was immediately hospitalized for an acute kidney injury. The doctors ended up further diagnosing him with FSGS – Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis – a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering units. This caused serious scarring and ultimately lead Justin to permanent kidney damage and failure.

 

In December of 2020 (on top of all things Covid) – Justin took a fall from his semi-trailer, about 15 feet from the ground. This is what ultimately caused the perfect storm of events - leading to the inability to properly heal + no sleep + high levels of anxiety = drastically increased blood pressure.

 

In April of 2021, Justin ended back up in the hospital for 8 days due to declining kidney function (at 6%) and high creatinine levels due to his kidneys not being able to filter his blood properly. He started emergency dialysis in the hospital and learned how to do home peritoneal dialysis 3 times a day.

 

Doctors say his only option at this point is a kidney transplant.

 

Which brings us up to today, 2022. Justin has continued his 3 times a day (1 hour each) treatments to help filter his blood since his kidneys cannot adequately do so, all the while he continues to work fulltime at a job that he truly loves and does not want to lose. He has had several ER and hospital stays due to heart concerns, blood pressure and most recently a very scary hospitalization for posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (including loss of sight– we are incredibly thankful that his sight returned).

 

Just a few weeks ago, Justin decided to cut back on work to allow for more rest. But this obviously comes at a cost – the physical cost of living expenses, house payment, family to provide for, medical expenses etc. This rest is required for his condition.

 

However, he cannot cut his hours too much because he still has to remain eligible insurance to cover dialysis, the kidney transplant, and all other medical expenses he continues to acquire. It’s a nasty catch 22 for someone who is sick, trying to heal, and continue to keep a roof over his family’s head.

 

A sign of hope – Justin was finally approved in January of this year to be on the national kidney transplant list. We are praying for a match – whether it be a stranger, a family member or a friend. If anyone is interested in learning more about this process/ donating to Justin – please reach out to me through this Gofundme page and I can connect you to the below.

 

Charish, RN – Living Donor Coordinator .

 

The average wait time it takes to receive a kidney once placed on this list is 2-5 years for Justin’s blood type.

 

We are asking for enough help to get Justin and his wife through this ordeal. They specifically need help with living expenses and their growing mountain of medical bills. Any donations will directly go to these things while they wait for a kidney and once Justin receives his new one, it will help while he is recovering (normally 2-3 months). His job is thankfully secure but he does not have enough sick time to cover the duration of this.

 

Honestly, anything we can do to help alleviate some of these big things from Justin’s plate – be it prayers, sending healing intentions, a friendly phone call, or funds raised here – it is all appreciated more than you know. Thank you so much for your generosity and continued prayers.

 

Justin is such a kind, generous, thoughtful man and the thought that this has been hacking away at his quality of life so drastically is just not fair. When you think of Justin, you think of the smiliest guy you know, who would drop anything in a heartbeat to help anyone who needed it – without a question. Let’s give a little bit of that back to him.