Shannon Donovan-Murphy

I am writing to you regarding my long time childhood friend Shannon Donovan-Murphy. Shannon was diagnosed with Polycystic kidney disease at 30 years old. In the last 3 years she has been in and out of Dr’s offices and hospitals battling this disease.

As Shannon is now in end-stage renal failure, she has been on life saving hemodialysis for the past two years. She will need to have both her kidneys removed in just a few weeks on January 22nd, in preparation for a future transplant. Shannon will then continue on dialysis until they can find a transplant. In NY this could take up to 7 years due to the very low organ donation rate in this state. In addition, given her medical history, she has some tricky antibodies to work around that makes her ineligible for about 75% of possible donor kidneys. All of this has left Shannon unable to work for the past 2.5 years, and her husband the sole provider when he isn’t taking time off to be at her side for all of her appointments and surgeries/recovery.

Shannon & Patrick have two beautiful girls, Isabella, 14 and Kalli, 11. Knowing Shannon since I was three and growing up alongside each other, there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for someone. The physical, emotional, and financial hardships they are dealing with are enormous. It is Shannon’s biggest wish for herself and her family to be able to have as normal a life as possible.

Please consider helping this family.

Thank you for your support