Hello Facebook friends. The hardest thing in life for me to do is to open up with other people; including my family. It is with a sincere heart and a humble tone in which I hope you receive this message. I wish to write to you all today about a part of my life you may not know. I have never claimed, nor will I ever be an amazing wordsmith. But it is my promise to you that I speak with honesty and from the heart. With a recent recommendation from one doctor, I wish to finally confess a part of my life to you. There is no other way to say this, so Ill just spit it out. My name is Zachary Crosley and I suffer from Chronic Kidney Disease. It all started due to a birth defect which caused scaring to my kidneys. The disease was first diagnosed while I was in the 7th grade when I began to experience painful urinary tract infections. I still remember the first morning as a child when I realized there was a problem. I was sitting in the bathroom and, like most mornings, my mother was shouting from the other room that we were going to be late for school. After many attempts of calling to get me out of the bathroom and into the car, my mother finally came barging in the room to see her child in obvious pain and with a face covered in quiet tears. After few lab tests at the pediatrician, I was sent to Cook Childrens to further diagnose the problem. Over the next month I would find out that I needed to have surgery to correct a birth defect which caused my ureters to form at the wrong angle. Luckily the surgery was a success! However the damage was already done to the kidneys and my body kept growing. As I grew, my kidneys became less efficient and began to scar further. While still in high school I was told the problem could potentially be that my kidneys would not last my entire lifespan. When my family heard the news we were devastated, yet optimistic and hoped that would not be the outcome. At this time my GRF (Glomerular Filtration Rate) (aka: how well do you kidneys work?) was around 33%. However over the years my kidneys have taken the turn for the worst. And I am now in Stage 4-5 kidney failure. If you are not sure what that means, then I can express it to you by saying my GFR is hovering around 13-16% and gradually declining. The whole purpose of this post is to express to you the following. My sincerest wishes are to never reach a GFR below 10% or I will have to go onto dialysis. Which, in my case will include a peritoneal dialysis process. This process requires an outpatient surgery followed by hooking myself up to a dialysis machine for 9 hours ever night. I fear this process for many reasons, but most of which is the toll it takes on my familys heart. Its obvious how much it pains them to watch me go through this at such a young age. Even today it is almost impossible to hold myself back from tears when I hear my family speak about their worries. They do not know until now that I cry sometimes when I am alone because I care for their feelings more than my own. I love them with all my heart and I want to spend all the years with them that I can. It is not the operation or the hooking up to the dialysis machine that scares me. It is the knowledge of knowing the potential years that will be taken off my lifespan due to the effect it has on my body. Yesterday, I spent 7 hours at the hospital having tests run and meeting with my amazing, yet always expanding list of doctors. One of whos first words to me were that I need a living donor kidney (as opposed to a cadaveric). The kidney is close to, if not the most complicated organ in the human body. Despite all of the technology and medical advances in todays world, they have yet to come up with a cure. The only treatments are dialysis and/or a transplant. The decision to go with a living donor kidney is based on the average lifespan of kidney transplant. A living donor kidneys lifespan is 2-3 times longer (10-20 years on average) than a cadaveric one. I have chosen to keep my disease a secret from most people due to the fact that I didnt want to be treated any differently due to an illness. I just wanted to be like everyone else. But the harsh truth is that I am not. I have struggled with a way of saying what I am about to say because it is a sensitive topic. But I am being told by my doctors to give this a shot since there is nothing to lose at this point. As you can tell by now, this is not a normal Facebook post so there is no reason to change that now. With all my heart and sincerest request, I would like to ask for you to examine your feelings about what Ive said and consider being my life saving, guardian angel. Please consider trying to be my living donor. The beginning stages of the process are simple and require minimal effort. All you would need to do is call the transplant coordinator, Brittany Browning (her info is at the end), and speak with her about being a potential candidate. Please know that your call to her is completely confidential. Your name, personal information, topics discussed, etc. will remain between you and her unless you request otherwise. The process is controlled by you and you have the final decision of wether or not to go through with it. Please look into your hearts and take some time to think about this. I am asking a lot. It is hard enough to ask someone for $20, yet alone a kidney. If your choice is to not help, please know that I understand and that I still love you. Finding my best match is a very specific science that contains many variables. My family is being tested, but they may not be the best match for me (or even a match at all due to age/general health/etc). It is the doctors and my wish that you are evaluated and your personal health is considered too. The intention and focus of all living donor transplantations is not asymmetrical and tipping towards the recipient. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this short version of my story. You can always message or call me about anything. I love you and hope that we can come together and fight this disease as one. -Zac Brittany Browning Transplant Coordinator Brittany.Browning@healthcare Office: (817) 834-8500 Cell: (469) 713-8870 Address: 909 9th Avenue, Suite 400, Fort Worth, TX 76104 Hospital: Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth P.S.- Just a small note about the financial side: The costs of the whole process, start-to-finish, are covered through my insurance plan.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 18:49:28 +0000
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