We NEED you to SAVE a VETRAN!
Meeting this amazing women made my day. My week has been a difficult one for sure but to see the smile on Ricki's face and the hope in her eyes put everything into persepctive. This woman has fought for our freedom and her family and it's time we fight for her! Someone out there is her match and I beg of you to make that call and see if it is YOU. Here is Ricki's story in her words.
I am a Proud USN veteran, one of the first Navy Waves to attend bootcamp in the 70's in Orlando, Florida. I am a mother and grandmother to 4, and need an O kidney so that I can stop dialysis and resume a "normal" life. My kidney disease was caused by lupus..., by the time it was discovered the majority of my kidney function was destroyed.
My journey with kidney disease started in February of 2010 when I went for my yearly wellness exam. A few days later, I received a call telling me there was a problem with my kidneys, and I needed to see a kidney specialist. I was shocked, to say the least, as I had no symptoms that I knew of. A few weeks and two nephrologist appointments later I had a kidney biopsy, showing that I had Lupus and my kidneys were functioning at 13%. I cried for months, I couldn't even admit to myself let alone anyone else that I had kidney disease!
My Doug has been so wonderful and supportive, I couldn't ask for a more wonderful soul mate to share my life with. There are days when I barely have the energy to get out of bed, and he has always been there to help with whatever needs to be done. Every doctors appointment, every testing at the hospital he goes, and has been involved in my disease since we found out about it.
By June of 2011 my kidney disease had deteriorated to stage 5, and I had surgery to place my PD catheter for dialysis. I have been on dialysis since September 2011.
I worked as long as I could, but finally had to stop in early June 2012 as my body just couldn't take the stress of working in a kitchen every day and being on my feet for 8-10 hours.There are days when it takes everything I'm worth to get out of bed in the morning. I've always been a hard worker, and I loved my career but this disease has taken so much from me.
I am proactive in CKD care and am trying to get the word out about kidney disease.
So please if you are interested in being a donor (even not for me but for another person) please contact my coordinator and get the ball rolling. Remember you are giving a person a second chance of life, and if that person is me, I want to say " Thank you for being so selfless" you just gave me a chance to spend the next 20 years with the love of my life and watching my precious grandbabies grow.
Transplant Coordinator-Prudence Ogden at University of Alabama Birmingham Transplant Center at 205-975-9200 or 888-822-7892. Please note you need to follow up with the transplant coordinator as the donor. They will not give me any information. So PLEASE.... after a couple of weeks, call for a status and keep calling every couple of weeks until to hear if you are a match or not. They will not tell me anything about the donor. Again, thank you so much and blessings from my heart!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-am-a-Veteran-and-I-need-a-Kidney/159448310878433?sk=info&tab=page_info — at Brandy Angel Photography.
https://www.facebook.com/bethechangebaf/photos/a.397196447154974.1073741825.397195620488390/420274561513829/?type=1&theater