Help Sophie Save Her Sister's Life

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to hear our story.

My name is Sophie and I'm donating my left kidney to my big sister Annie. Annie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was a young girl. She fell into a diabetic coma which you can imagine was incredibly scary and ultimately led to a huge lifestyle change.

I can't remember a time from our childhood that didn't involve Annie playing house as a mom to six babies. Her dream was to be a mom. Unfortunately, life had a different plan. Fast forward to Annie falling in love with her partner Jake and wanting a family of their own. The two best people who I've looked up to wanted to expand and build a family and we couldn't be happier. Little did we know at the time, that was going to be a much bigger challenge than any of us could image. Her pregnancy was incredibly difficult. Annie was diagnosed with severe Preeclampsia (which is caused by high blood pressure and affects several organ systems which can be life threatening to mother and baby) so on August 31st of 2021 my nephew Atlas was born via c-section at only 24 weeks. Soon after Annie was diagnosed with end stage renal failure which meant her kidneys could no longer function on their own.

My sister Annie and nephew Atlas both started their roads to recovery and healing. Atlas endured a long 6 months stay in the NICU and underwent 6 surgeries before he even turned 1 years old! After years of therapy and recovery, Atlas now lives a normal life after doctors told us he would never be able to see or speak. My sister Annie, however, has had a much more difficult road to recovery. Annie was able to retain enough kidney function after having Atlas to mostly have a normal life but in February of 2022, only 2 weeks after Atlas was discharged from his long stay in the NICU, Annie's appendix burst and she went septic. The infection shut down her kidneys again and this time they wouldn't turn back on. It was during that hospital stay that Annie had her first dialysis treatment. By the time Annie left the hospital she knew that she must start the journey to get a new kidney. Annie was able to put off regular basis dialysis until April 2023. It was then when she went under a surgery to place a dialysis port in her stomach so she could self administer twice a day everyday and continue to be a hands on mother to her son.. my miracle nephew Atlas.

Annie has been self administering her dialysis for over a year now and in the meantime, I have undergone a lot of testing to become eligible to donate one of my kidneys to her. We are FINALLY ready to book a surgery date! We are scheduled for June 12th. This date may change based on Annie's health but for now it's a GO! This will require me to take two months off of work and in my field of work I have to be able to lift over 30 pounds everyday which I will not be able to do until 6-8 weeks after surgery. Living in LA.. 6-8 weeks without being able to function normally in my workplace becomes a huge hit financially. I won't be able to work at all. I also intend to travel to Georgia to help her and her family while she recovers. We've taken all the necessary steps to be provided assistance in this process without any such luck. That has led us down the road of a gofundme which helped and provided for my sister and nephew for their long hospital stays. They still are facing about 1 million dollars in medical debt. Can you even imagine?!

We are so grateful for those of you who helped my family in need before. We are so excited that I'm a match and am able to donate. We are forever grateful to our friends, family, and community that have been true blessings in this journey. Thank you for taking the time to read our story.