Her First Of Many Surgeries - Azalea Age 5
Azalea has been sick since the day she was born. There hasn't been a year since 1977 that she hasn't been in the hospital for some reason or another. It all started with her being born at 7 months. Later, at age 5, she was diagnosed with renal reflux. Her main ailment is end-stage renal failure. She also has a condition known as Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis, or NSF for short. This last one confined her to a wheelchair for life.
She's been on the transplant waiting list for more years than I can remember and attends dialysis three days a week. From the very first day a person starts dialysis, their survival rate begins to decline. According to conventional medicine, she should't even be alive. Hemodialysis was one of the most common procedures performed in U.S. hospitals in 2011, occurring in 909,000 stays (a rate of 29 stays per 10,000 population). This was an increase of 68 percent from 1997, when there were 473,000 stays.
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis is the most severe and most common disorder associated with gadolinium. In this type of disorder, all the connective tissues of the body are affected, thereby causing hardening of the skin which in turn causes joint immobility. In NSF, even the thigh muscles, lower abdomen, diaphragm and lung vessels can be harmed. Skin hardening, together with the adverse impact of the drug on lungs and diaphragm, can cause breathing difficulties, which can in turn even cause death. There can also be difficulty in extending or bending the arms, legs, hands and feet. There have also been cases wherein the patient was rendered immovable and confined to a wheelchair within weeks of the onset. There is no cure for NSF at this time but many optons have been explored.
With all the doctor's appointments and dialysis every week, There has been lots of wear and tear on her vehicle. I call it a "rolling death trap" because none of the windows go down and all of the handles on the inside have broken off. She used to have a savings account that was to be used if a compatible kidney was ever found for her, but she has had to use that money just to keep her vehicle running.
Our goal of $75,000 might seem a little high but we are hoping to buy her a wheelchair accessible van. A fully converted van would cost upwards of $60,000. The rest of the money would go back into her kidney emergency fund. It would be used to cover any maintenance costs on her new vehicle and travel & lodging costs, should a kidney be found, since the surgery would be performed in either Dallas or San Antonio (we live in El Paso)
What We're Aiming For... Or Somthing Similar.
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After all she's been through since the day she was born, it'd be great for her to catch a small break for once. She's always been there for me with emotional and, sometimes, financial support. I wouldn't have finished college without her. Making this page is the least I can do for her.
So, please look into your heart and donate anything you can. There is no minimum donation... donate a dollar if that's all you can do! Thank you for taking the time to read this and I truly hope that you can help an extraordinary young woman get the help she needs.
One last request, and I know it's a long shot... If there is anyone out there that is kind enough, generous enough and, most of all, brave enough to be willing to donate a kidney to a complete stranger, please contact us through our Facebook page or leave your contact info in the comments below.
Thank you again!
Saul R Paredes