Kidney Transplant Associated Costs

I am needing help with my accommodation and transport costs during my kidney transplant, and recovery thereafter for 3 months of tests that need to be done on a daily basis at the Auckland City Hospital. Also a shunt is going to be inserted at Waikato Hospital to allow for dialysis in the mean time with travel between Tauranga and Hamilton on a regular basis for training to use the system.

I am 49 years old, and am in end-stage renal failure. It is optimum to have a transplant (whether live or deceased donor) now, or be on long term dialysis until either a kidney is available, or I die. Like anyone, I’d like to live. But there are around 70 transplants done per year in NZ – and over 550 on the list.

I’ve been in increasingly severe pain since my first attack in 2003, and while I keep to a restricted diet and lifestyle, I’m at the end stage.

Cause of my kidney issues:

My kidney failure is caused by a genetic inheritance – Polycystic kidneys. This causes multiple cysts on the kidneys, causing intense pain, with occasional bouts of kidney stones. I was first diagnosed in 2003, and I have had a PCK-related heart attack, resulting in stents in my heart.

My kidneys are now 4 times larger than normal, but I have only 11% of normal kidney function at present, and this figure is falling. Because I also have a Carvanoma on the brainstem, which causes my body to shut down (slurring words, lack of cognitive function, nausea, etc) I have been unable to work for some time, so saving to go for the transplant, and the after care required, and/or dialysis preparation (2 weeks having shunt in arm, joining vein and artery, to make a site for needle insertion for dialysis)is a real financial burden on myself and my widowed mother.

I would really appreciate help from anyone willing to donate, even a dollar, to take away some the stress of knowing the financial burden we are faced with shortly.

A little about what happens when Kidneys go bad:

Normally, human kidneys remove excess salt, water and other toxic waste products from the blood, which helps the body maintain the appropriate levels of important chemicals and minerals and helps maintain proper blood pressure. When the kidneys don't work properly, or if chronic or end-stage kidney failure occurs, then the patient will require dialysis.

Whether performed in a hospital, clinic or even at home, the process generally involves the insertion of a thin plastic tube, called a catheter, into an artery. During dialysis, the blood flows through this arterial catheter into the dialyzer, where it is filtered/cleansed, before returning into the body via the venous catheter, a second thin plastic tube inserted into a vein.

Renal dialysis can be used temporarily to allow the kidneys to heal from certain acute, short-term problems, but if chronic or end-stage kidney failure has occurred, the patient will require dialysis for life unless he or she receives a kidney transplant.

In New Zealand, there are currently more than 550 people waiting for an organ or tissue transplant, and approximately only 70 transplants are done annually in NZ (live or deceased donation). So, sadly, some of those awaiting a kidney will die waiting, while others will continue to lead lives restricted by long-term treatment.

Please help. I’ve been in increasingly severe pain since my first attack in 2003 (when I was diagnosed). I’d love to have the financial strain removed from my disabled elderly mother, too.