Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Meet August. He is 23 years old and lives in Rochester, MN. If there’s one thing that describes him, it’s a sports fanatic. He plays and cheers for every sport there is. Baseball, softball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis, floor hockey, fishing, everything. He loves it all. You’ll never catch him without a sporting shirt or jersey on unless mom makes him put something else on.
While being your average, sports-crazy, goofy, loving, kind, helpful, big-hearted, yet smart-ass of a dude, he has had some medical setbacks his whole life. From battling Moya Moya with bilateral brain surgeries at 4 years old and the cognitive challenges that continue to his skeletal disorders that impact fine motor function, he has been so strong and positive.
One of his biggest battles has been with his kidney health. August was born with kidney dysplsia which is malformation of the kidneys from birth. Believe it or not, you can live a full and healthy life with just above 25% function of just 1 kidney. August has been about there his entire life. We knew at some point, his kidneys wouldn’t keep up with his growth spurts, but they did until recently. The crazy thing is, is that our dad was always going to be his kidney donor if and when that time came. Unfortunately, our dad passed away in March of 2019 and just one week later at August’s annual checkup, August’s kidneys had officially progressed to end stage renal failure.
For the last year and a half August has been on peritoneal dialysis every night. The process is really something to watch and then the amount of medication he has to take on a daily basis is on another level. We’re sharing all of this, now, because of his recent, unpredictable, exponential decline in his barely-there kidney function. What was originally thought to take him another 6-7 years if need-be to give us time to a donor, has taken us to a year and a half. As his treatment plan continues to evolve, we aren’t sure how long before his body no longer accepts it. with all of that said, the clock is ticking to find a kidney donor. He is on the donor list to receive a deceased kidney, but a live donor would be even better.
We know it’s huge, but we ask that you consider a kidney donation to August. You can follow www.mayoclinic.org/livingdonor and fill out the Donor Evaluation form to begin the process. You can voluntarily stop the process, whenever, no questions asked. If you’re unsure or have questions, my family and I are here to answer every question you may have. If you’re unable, or simply don’t want to, that is okay! Our next ask is that you share the crap out of this to expand our reach to find him a match and to save his life. We all know how powerful social media is, let’s use it for good. From me, my family & especially from August... We thank you
