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Elizabeth’s story begins 20 years ago, just at the turn of the century. While others were adjusting to the new Millenium, Elizabeth suffered kidney failure as a result of being toxic to lithium, leaving her kidneys severely damaged. Thankfully, her kidney function recovered enough for her to continue living.
Four months ago, amidst a lot of pain, Elizabeth discovered that her kidneys had failed again, this time, for good. She was forced to begin dialysis treatment as a replacement to her kidney function of filtering waste from her body.
Elizabeth is a soldier! She must be, to survive. Dialysis treatment is brutal. She wages on, rising early three days a week to be at the dialysis center at 6 AM. Dialysis entails inserting a stent in the arm so that the treatment has a route into the bloodstream. It is a 4-5 hour long process, during which patients become increasingly uncomfortable. Once the treatment is complete, Elizabeth returns home feeling “wobbly, beaten up, tired, sweaty with terrible cramping of the legs and stomach. [Her] arm is also all bandaged up and very painful. Very often [she’ll] spend the rest of the day recovering.”
“I cannot imagine doing this for the rest of my life!” says Elizabeth. “I see others at the dialysis center who have been doing this for years. I don’t know how they do it. I can’t believe that this is me, and this is my situation.”
The Renewal organization keeps Elizabeth going. They are her only source of hope throughout this terrible ordeal. Elizabeth needs a kidney and Renewal has made it their mission to find and match donors to recipients such as herself.
The odds of receiving a kidney through the general American healthcare system are very slim. Patients must apply to various hospital systems, spend months undergoing testing and gaining approval, and only then wait, until miraculously a kidney appears. 5,000 people die every year just waiting for a kidney, as there are over 100,000 people on the waiting list for a transplant and only 17,000 performed a year.
Renewal has made the impossible happen. By facilitating kidney donation, they support over 100 transplants a year within the Jewish community!
While Renewal’s work is always important, it has taken on a new urgency.
COVID-19 has destroyed many survivors’ kidneys. 32% of ICU patients have been placed on dialysis. Many of them will now need transplants.
Renewal will need all the support they can get to facilitate these transplants. A campaign has been launched to raise the funds needed; $18,900 per transplant!
To contribute to Renewal and take part in saving lives during these unprecedented times, visit RAYZE.IT/KIDNEY.
Let’s give Life, not just Hope to these COVID survivors and the many others, such as Elizabeth, waiting for Life.
