Needing a hero

On February 4, 2008, I married my best friend, Bryan Charles.

On July 3, 2008, after a scary blood pressure spike, we found out both of his kidneys were working at 9% and declining fast.

Hearing the news & looking at the shocked face of my new husband, I didn’t know what to do.  So we hugged and we cried.
I’ve never known anybody that had to go through this.  I didn’t know what to expect.  I had so many questions.   What exactly is dialysis?  How can he get a transplant?  Why & how did this happen in the first place?
The next 3.5 years were filled with many hospital visits, many surgeries, and one very long emotional roller coaster.   Dialysis put a very large strain on him.  The constant surgeries were wearing on him even more.  It was hard to smile about anything, but Bryan liked showing off his scars.  His favorite went right across his throat.  It was to get his parathyroids out, but he likes to think he won some kind of bar fight or mugging.
It was toward the end of the 3.5 years we started getting hopeless.  It was all too much to handle.  It was beginning to be too much for Bryan to handle.  He was deteriorating before our eyes.  It was right before Christmas, we get the call that Sandy, Bryan’s aunt’s life partner, is a match and will be donating her kidney to Bryan!  It was the best Christmas present we could have asked for.  His transplant was Valentine’s Day, 2011.
It’s quite amazing what one huge selfless act & one  tiny kidney can do.  It literally saved his life.  It renewed our marriage.  It gave us normalcy, for once.   Things we looking up!  We bought an amazing house, talking about starting a family.. We even went sky diving for my birthday.
Kidneys normally last a long time..  Usually about 15 years, give or take.  For some reason, Bryan contracted an infection that harmed his new kidney.  Transplant recipients have had this infection before, but never before has it killed the kidney..  Until now.  It’s called the JC virus.  We don’t know how he got it, or why he’s the only one to ever have this outcome.

This is where you come in.  Bryan is in need of another kidney.  The good news, he doesn’t need to find a match.  All we need is to find someone who is willing & able to donate.  Then Tampa General will find someone else who has an unmatched donor, who matches with our unmatched donor.  We are praying that this solution will make it easier for not only my husband to find a donor, but the millions of others who need a new kidney as well.

This is a HUGE decision.  One that I don’t want you to take lightly.  There are a lot of things to consider.  Read this link for more information.  They bring up a lot of great points you need to think about.  http://www.americantransplantfoundation.org/about-transplant/living-donation/becoming-a-living-donor/five-questions-to-ask-yourself/

Another way you can help: Please feel free to share this blog on your facebook, twitter, email it to relatives, friends..  ANYTHING!  Please just share.  The more it’s out there, the better chance we have to finding a donor.
Please email me at Jessica@JessicaCharlesPhotography.com if you have any news for me, or even if you just want to say hi.  :)

Thank you so much for your time & your help!!

Jessica