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Bert Eljera hasn't added a story.
I don't want to make this overly dramatic, but yes, it's between life
and death.
Kidney failure is no longer an outright death sentence as it
used to be. Dialysis and modern medicine can keep you alive, but with
a deteriorating quality of life - and the inevitable happens.
In the past month, I lost a toe to amputation, had my lungs
drained with fluid, my heart thoroughly tested ( I had coronary bypass
in 1997 and stents in 2009), and to top it off, I contracted shingles,
which are viral remnants of measles or chicken pox in childhood!
It's almost laughable, if it were not so serious - or painful.
Diabetes and high blood pressure are the main causes of kidney
failure. I have both. I have been a diabetic since 1981, and my
kidneys failed in 1998. In 2002, I was lucky enough to get a
transplant, but that too has failed.
My partner, my beloved Christie, who has helped me bear all the
pain, has teased me that an old mangkukulam in Balud is perhaps
playing with me as payback for the heartaches I brought to some girls
in my youth.
But I'm still above ground, and hope to stay that way for some
time more. I tried to be the best of fathers and raised my kids to be
independent and to be on their own, and I want to stick around for my
grand kids.
In my time, I have helped people and groups tell their stories
and good deeds through my work as a writer and journalist. I hope to
continue this work; my tank is not empty yet.
So I need your prayers and help to raise at least $15,000 for
the University Medical Center in Las Vegas to consider me for a kidney
transplant.
The amount represents 20% of four-year, post
transplant-medication, which the hospital requires. The rest will be
paid for by Medicare.
Unfortunately, this is not tax deductible. So it will be only
from the goodness of your heart that you're making this donation.
All I can say is thank you and God bless!
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