Rhea's Journey to a Kidney Transplant

This GoFundMe has been created to help two friends and their families. To make a long story short, Rhea (Janesich) Reller inherited Polycystic Kidney Disease from her dad, Howie. You have a 50/50 chance of passing it on to your children and Rhea unfortunately got it. Her sister Jolene did not get PKD and in 2001, Jolene donated one of her kidney's to her dad Howie. PKD is a disease where cysts take over your kidneys. Kidneys are necessary for removing toxins from your body and when they are not functioning, people need to either start Dialysis or go on the Transplant list. Approximately one year ago, Rhea had to go on to the transplant list. Waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor can take years. This past summer of 2022, Rhea's friend since the 7th grade, Nicole (Barto) Radika, underwent testing to see if she could be a donor for Rhea. Testing showed that they were a match! Rhea and Nicole have both had to undergo medical evaluations at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to prepare for a direct donation. The transplant surgery has been scheduled for February 7. If you want to read more about Nicole's journey, you can click on this link. https://2022pkd.wordpress.com/

End PKD

Bringing awareness and sharing my journey

2022pkd.wordpress.com

This fund will help with the unexpected costs associated with the transplant surgeries, including transportation, lodging, and lost wages. The money raised will go towards the costs for both Rhea and Nicole's families. This will be a very stressful time for both of them. Not only will they be missing work, they will also need to stay in Rochester to recover for an extended time which means lodging and meals.

Many friends have asked what they can do to help. Nicole and Rhea would ask for a lot of prayers and support through this process. We also ask that you share the word about living Kidney donation. Thank you so much!