Medical Expense Help for End-Stage Kidney Disease

Hi, my name is Jason and as some of you may already know, I was recently diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Disease.

A.K.A: Kidney failure.

It's taken a lot for me to put this information out in the open as I am typically kept to myself until you get to know me, but it has come to a point where I've deemed it necessary to do so.

Due to complications at birth and needing to have one kidney taken out at that time, I have lived my entire 33 years with just one and have been more than fine for the most part.

In recent years, I got caught up in my career (as a young adult does) and regrettably left my health on the back burner. After a couple years of traveling, my beautiful best friend and I bought our first home in April of 2021 and got married in October of 2022. Life was going very well!

In an unfortunate turn of events and a few nights in the hospital later, I ended up leaving the job I thought would take care of me. When in actuality, it turned out to be a big factor in my rapid decline.

After a long overdue visit with my new primary care physician, I received an alarming call that my lab work showed my only kidney was hustling at just 6%!

I was immediately scheduled to have a permacath placed in my heart to begin quick access dialysis. As if that wasn't fun enough- dialysis triggered an onset on seizures which sent me to a neurologist where I spent several months experimenting with medications until we finally found one that didn't cause me to have essential tremors.

(Luckily?) Instead of the tubes hanging off my chest, I now have a fistula where a vein was fused to an artery in my arm and now get two needles poked into it to fulfil my dialysis treatments.

So, within the past 2 years I have gotten married, purchased a home with a mortgage, lost my job with insurance, gained 6 specialty doctors (Nephrologist, Neurologist, Endocrinologist, Dermatologist, Urologist and Cardiologist), Have been prescribed 8 new medications, (don't ask me to spell those!) and now have mandatory dialysis treatments for 3 hours at a time, 3 days a week in order to keep me alive.

People aren't kidding when they say life can turn on a dime.

Finding a new job under these circumstances has been a defeating task and has thus far led to no avail. Although I qualify for disability, if you live in America, you are probably aware of how efficient and prompt our social security administration can be. Especially post Covid.

My wife and I have made it through the past 6 months with her job, our savings, and the help of our amazingly, incredible friends and family.

Even though I am required to obtain Medicare due to having ESKD, the monthly premium was too much for us to afford at a time and I unfortunately lost my Part B and D coverage which is required for medical care (like dialysis), doctor visits, prescriptions, and to be enrolled on the national kidney transplant waiting list. This has been a detrimental event for my care.

The social worker at my dialysis center is working diligently to have this corrected and with their guidance, I have applied for additional help through the American Kidney Fund.

However, the estimated time this will take is currently unknown and we were told to be prepared for covering all costs ourselves until July. As I am writing this, we are currently in January.

At this time, we owe $10,254 in accrued medical bills and are expecting to owe an additional average amount of $853 each month for my dialysis treatments alone. This would be with insurance and the high hope that I will be able to get Medicare Part B back very soon.

This is the cherry on top of my medication cost ($75 per month), mandatory specialist visits ($230 per month), our mortgage ($1,560 per month) and all other bills (~1,736.19 per month for both Shawna and I).

At this time, my primary need for help is for dialysis treatments.

If you've made it this far, please give yourself a pat on the back for however many times you've read the word "Dialysis".

And please consider donating to this fundraiser.

I really appreciate you taking the time to visit this page and would be immensely grateful for your help and support during this extremely challenging time in my life.

If you are not able to make a donation, please consider sharing this page on your social media platforms to reach the eyes of others.

I am also searching for a living kidney donor! If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing your spare, PLEASE reach out and Shawna can walk you through the process!

You can also visit my site on the National Kidney Registry for more information here: https://www.nkr.org/BZK463

I'll owe you a kidney! ;)

Stay positive out there and have a great day!!

Thank you!