Heart/Kidney transplant
Donation protected
Hi everybody.
To begin with I would like to tell you a bit about myself and what I have experienced to create my need for help. I was an aircraft manufacturing during the '80' and '90's. If you are familiar with the industry, you know that there are a lot of "rampups" and "layoffs" that made it a difficult industry to settle into.I got laid off one more time and caught a bad strain of flu in the winter of '95/96.
Having no insurance at the time I nursed myself (as many men are prone to do) "grandma's" way and got better, but never got well. By summer I began having sinus issues or allergies that I had never experienced before, or at least I thought it was sinus problems or allergies. The next winter came and I had the same symptoms as before. By that summer, I was experiencing the sinus thing again, but now with stomach issues as well.
As the summer got hotter, I got sicker and by late summer 1997 I was bloated like the Michelin Man. I thought it was my stomach so I went and bought just about every stomach remedy on the aisle. I went home and took what seemed to address my misery and proceeded to have more serious issues. At this point I couldn't walk to the front door from the bedroom of my home, without feeling very faint.
Eventually I went to an Urgent Care type facility after calling my wife to give her my route in case. Once there and in a room I was immediatly instructed to go to the ER. They sent with me a prognosis of some kind of heart disease, thus I got great service at the ER. The best service ever...LOL After 24 hours of Lasix drip, I had lost 20 pounds of fluid. This of course was accompanied by a long period of cramping because of losing fluids too fast. It was a very long night.
Finally I was brought back in an examining room and the "little girl" resident, told me I had an ejection fraction of 13% and needed a heart transplant, and turned and just walked away. Well I was taken aback and felt hurt about the situation because I didn't know how I got this illness. Later I found out that I was diagnosed with ideopathic cardiomyopathy, unexplained enlarged heart muscle itself, and was advised that if I did not receive a life saving transplant I would surley die. At the time, due to a lay off from McDonald Douglas, I did not have any life insurance. I was advised I could not be placed on the heart transplant list due to the health of insurance. Basically, they sent me home to die.
In 2009, I was blessed enough to be referred to Integris Advanced Cardiac Care in Oklahoma City. They are the best of the best in Oklahoma. In 2011 they implanted an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device), or what some call a heart pump. This allowed the left chambers of my heart to be bypassed and mechanically distribute blood.
Now I find myself in a situation where the right chambers of my heart are now failing and some of the medications have done significant damage to my kidneys. I’m in need of a Heart / Kidney transplant. While multiple organ transplants are becoming more and more commonplace across the country, it is more difficult due to the existing LVAD.
This week I am heading to Houston, TX for evaluation for this lifesaving surgery which will be an expensive venture. Therefore, I am attempting raise approximately $2500 to help in this process.
I would like to thank you all for your friendship and support making my days better and I do appreciate you for it.
To keep you posted on my medical situation, I will be gone to Houston, Texas for at least a week for medical evaluations, in an effort to be listed for a heart and kidney transplant. I currently live in Tulsa Oklahoma.
This has been a long time coming. At one point I was unable to be listed due to other medical reasons. I was diagnosed 20 years ago, and with the blessings of God and/or your positive support, I still wake up blessed every morning, and thankful to be alive.
I ask, if you would, to please remember me in your prayers or send a positive wishes for the good news we are hoping for. If all goes well and I am accepted to go on lists for these organs, then relocation and the wait begins. This will be another expensive venture.
Your love and support is very much appreciated.
As I often say...
"There is no me without you"
Maxx
To begin with I would like to tell you a bit about myself and what I have experienced to create my need for help. I was an aircraft manufacturing during the '80' and '90's. If you are familiar with the industry, you know that there are a lot of "rampups" and "layoffs" that made it a difficult industry to settle into.I got laid off one more time and caught a bad strain of flu in the winter of '95/96.
Having no insurance at the time I nursed myself (as many men are prone to do) "grandma's" way and got better, but never got well. By summer I began having sinus issues or allergies that I had never experienced before, or at least I thought it was sinus problems or allergies. The next winter came and I had the same symptoms as before. By that summer, I was experiencing the sinus thing again, but now with stomach issues as well.
As the summer got hotter, I got sicker and by late summer 1997 I was bloated like the Michelin Man. I thought it was my stomach so I went and bought just about every stomach remedy on the aisle. I went home and took what seemed to address my misery and proceeded to have more serious issues. At this point I couldn't walk to the front door from the bedroom of my home, without feeling very faint.
Eventually I went to an Urgent Care type facility after calling my wife to give her my route in case. Once there and in a room I was immediatly instructed to go to the ER. They sent with me a prognosis of some kind of heart disease, thus I got great service at the ER. The best service ever...LOL After 24 hours of Lasix drip, I had lost 20 pounds of fluid. This of course was accompanied by a long period of cramping because of losing fluids too fast. It was a very long night.
Finally I was brought back in an examining room and the "little girl" resident, told me I had an ejection fraction of 13% and needed a heart transplant, and turned and just walked away. Well I was taken aback and felt hurt about the situation because I didn't know how I got this illness. Later I found out that I was diagnosed with ideopathic cardiomyopathy, unexplained enlarged heart muscle itself, and was advised that if I did not receive a life saving transplant I would surley die. At the time, due to a lay off from McDonald Douglas, I did not have any life insurance. I was advised I could not be placed on the heart transplant list due to the health of insurance. Basically, they sent me home to die.
In 2009, I was blessed enough to be referred to Integris Advanced Cardiac Care in Oklahoma City. They are the best of the best in Oklahoma. In 2011 they implanted an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device), or what some call a heart pump. This allowed the left chambers of my heart to be bypassed and mechanically distribute blood.
Now I find myself in a situation where the right chambers of my heart are now failing and some of the medications have done significant damage to my kidneys. I’m in need of a Heart / Kidney transplant. While multiple organ transplants are becoming more and more commonplace across the country, it is more difficult due to the existing LVAD.
This week I am heading to Houston, TX for evaluation for this lifesaving surgery which will be an expensive venture. Therefore, I am attempting raise approximately $2500 to help in this process.
I would like to thank you all for your friendship and support making my days better and I do appreciate you for it.
To keep you posted on my medical situation, I will be gone to Houston, Texas for at least a week for medical evaluations, in an effort to be listed for a heart and kidney transplant. I currently live in Tulsa Oklahoma.
This has been a long time coming. At one point I was unable to be listed due to other medical reasons. I was diagnosed 20 years ago, and with the blessings of God and/or your positive support, I still wake up blessed every morning, and thankful to be alive.
I ask, if you would, to please remember me in your prayers or send a positive wishes for the good news we are hoping for. If all goes well and I am accepted to go on lists for these organs, then relocation and the wait begins. This will be another expensive venture.
Your love and support is very much appreciated.
As I often say...
"There is no me without you"
Maxx
Organizer
Kenneth Campbell
Organizer
Tulsa, OK