https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089788212259
Pushpa Vishnu

https://www.facebook.com/ourdadneedsakidneyvishnudureddy
 

Vishnu, my husband, is a 48-year-old father of my two young girls, Sarayu and Saahithi. He is in dire need of a kidney transplant. In the 23 years of our marriage, he has been everything that I could ask for and has given me more than I could ask for. He has been my torchbearer, the backbone of support through my health issues, and a guiding hand to pursue my career and dreams. He always takes pride and pleasure in providing and putting his family first. Not only is he a tutor and mentor to my girls, but he is also passionate about providing financial guidance to friends and young kids to help them become financially independent. He is a simple man with no materialistic desires, making it hard for us to find a “gift in a box” for special occasions. He is a movie lover, an avid cricket player in Atlanta, and loves to hike with friends and family. His only dream is to travel the world and retire to a simple farm life. He has always been a man of few words, always readily available to provide young adults with financial support to pursue higher education, provide funds for farmers to save their land, and is a constant donor to many charitable organizations such as UNICEF, Red Cross, or any disaster relief, to name a few.

A year ago, our lives changed in an instant when he had to go on emergency dialysis. Years ago, Vishnu was diagnosed with FSGS, a rare hereditary kidney disease. He was asymptomatic for many years with medication, but last year everything changed for us. His creatinine levels skyrocketed, putting him on emergency daily dialysis, and we also lost his father to cardiac arrest, caused by the same kidney disease last year after being on 3 years of dialysis.

With my husband's rare blood type 0, he has a long wait of 8 years for a kidney transplant. Instead of taking family vacations this past year, instead we filled our calendar with trips to register for kidney transplants in multiple states; plans of outings with friends and family have become limited and completely revolve around his dialysis. His ultimate pleasure of a sweet tooth has now become survival eating; weekend family eat-outs almost banned with a big list of food restrictions. Simple pleasures of life have taken a back seat.His once-annoying snoring has become my reassurance that he is breathing.

Despite all the challenges and compromises, we have been thankful for his life and hopeful for a kidney transplant one day. But his recent change in lab levels puts him at imminent risk for cardiac complications, and constant reminders from our healthcare providers to find a living donor ASAP is the reason for this plea.

I can't bear the thought of my girls growing up without their father, the biggest rock of support each and every step of their way.

Any living kidney donation in his name, regardless of compatibility, through the "kidney exchange program" or “kidney paired donation” ,living donor kidneys are swapped so each recipient receives a compatible transplant, puts my husband on a living donor waiting list, on which the wait is LESS THAN A YEAR.

The words, “The sooner the better,” from our healthcare providers are what compels me to implore for ANY BLOOD TYPE living donor to come forward to help save my husband's life.

Prayers for your health and happiness.

Pushpa