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An essay about Kidney Kars donation in Utah by Mindy Lind. Mindy is the daughter of Roger Stratford, a past Kidney Foundation Board President and Kidney Donor. Thanks to both Roger and Mindy for sharing this perfect essay about Kidney Kars!
http://marzipansmind.blogspot.com/2008/12/national-kidney-foundation-loves-me.html
I wanted to share a short note to say Thank you for helping us pay some of our bills. I work for the School District and am out of work 3 months of the year. The last paycheck I got was in June, and I won’t see another until the end of October. Luckily my husband has two jobs, so we’ve been able to make our house payments. But since I’ve had kidney failure, it’s been really hard to pay for everything, especially all my medical treatments and medications. It was so hard for me to ask for (financial) help. It was humiliating, but I had no options left. I can not tell you how grateful I am for that little extra help paying for my meds. It meant so much to me, and took such a huge burden off mine and my husband’s shoulders this summer. God Bless everyone who has donated to the Kidney Foundation. Thank you so very much for your assistance. I can only hope that one day I’ll have a transplant and will be able to repay this kindness to the Kidney Foundation myself. Sincerely, Michelle S.
http://heraldextra.com/news/local/article_cd785174-226c-5a70-a415-7a3e23223cca.html
Joe Pyrah | Daily Herald | Posted: Sunday, September 20, 2009 12:40 am | 
How do you pray for the life of a girl if it means someone else has to die?
As the family of 13-year-old Aubrie Johnson waited for word of a kidney donor on a recent Saturday, they revisited questions they have long wrestled with during their twisting and turning lives. All the while, they kept the news of a possible donor hidden from Aubrie, who was hamming it up during Kidney Kamp at Aspen Grove near Sundance. The call had come in earlier that morning, but there were still a battery of tests that had to be run.
While the family tries to treat her as a normal kid — she earned herself a spot on the cheerleading squad — there are some hopes they don’t want raised too high. On occasion at the camp, Aubrie would wander too close to the conversation and the topic would subtly change or a family member would find something else for her to do.
But as they waited for that last confirming call, there were unmistakable sideways looks and smiles.
“I’ve seen a miracle once. You can always hope for two,” said her mother, Wendy Johnson.
It was on a family trip when Aubrie was just 22 months old that they noticed she was getting “puffy.” They figured it was a bad reaction to a bee sting, but it didn’t seem serious so they continued on their trip. But on the drive to southern Utah it go so bad they had to buy shoes an extra size larger just so she could walk around without pain. It was at that point they went to a hospital. After a number of tests, a cause was pinpointed.
“The doctors came in and said her kidneys were toast,” said her father, Kevin Johnson.
The kidneys are fist-sized organs that filter about 200 quarts of blood per day in adults, creating about 2 quarts of waste that is excreted as urine. When the kidneys begin to fail, signs such as swelling, excessive fatigue and muscle cramps start to appear. Kevin, built like an ox, had to watch helplessly as doctors worked on his little girl.
“It’s just a real sobering moment,” he said.
Doctors in Salt Lake City got Aubrie on medications and dialysis, a process that extracts waste from the body artificially. For two months she stayed in the hospital. It was a summer at what Aubrie’s three sisters call “Club Med,” where they raced wheelchairs down the hallways their parents were pacing.
And then the first miracle happened.
Preparing to take the 2-year-old out of the hospital and into a life of dialysis, a nurse suggested to the doctor that they try weaning her off the system. Bit by bit they took her off the machines, and bit by bit her kidneys took over –well enough to go home dialysis-free.
A reprieve, and then …
For several years, the family lead a relatively normal existence. Kevin got a promotion, and they all moved to Nebraska. But as Aubrie got older, her kidneys started failing again. Treatment at the hospital was a five-hour round trip, and it started taking a toll. When a position in the company opened up in Salt Lake City, the family packed up and headed back to the Wasatch Front where they would have quicker access to medical care.
At age 6, trips to the hospital weren’t enough, and Aubrie went permanently on peritoneal dialysis. It works, in her case, by hooking up a machine to an exit point on her stomach. The machine uses the lining that surrounds the stomach and spleen as a natural filter to clear out the waste and excess fluid. Aubrie has learned to sleep through the noise, including the alarms that go off when an adjustment needs to be made. Wendy, on the other hand, says it’s like having a newborn. (”I sleep through church,” she says.)
The dialysis also rules out things (theoretically speaking, of course) like ice cream and swimming. She’s had several bad infections that double the trouble, because the medication used to take care of the problem is bad for kidneys.
At Kidney Kamp, one of her sisters said they try and make her life as normal as they can. “I didn’t want her to be known as a sick kid,” said Breanna Johnson. “We give her just as much crap as the next person.”
But there’s no getting around the special care Aubrie has needed for the past seven years — and the side effects. “Ew! There’s blue jean all over it!” the 13-year-old says when her mother takes a number of pills out of her pocket for her to take.
Aubrie is the size of an 8-year-old, because kidneys are intimately tied to growth hormones. As the kidneys fail, so do the messages to grow. While this makes it easier for members of her cheerleading squad to hoist her in the air, it presents its own unique challenges.
This year a teacher at her school stopped her, telling her she was in the wrong place.
“He told me, ‘The elementary is across the street,’” she said.
The family put off getting on the transplant list as long as possible for several reasons. First, the dialysis was working well. Second, the longer they waited, the better chance there was of medicine improving all aspects of a transplant. Third, in Aubrie’s case, a new kidney isn’t a cure, it’s a treatment. Once a transplant is complete, she can expect to get about nine years of use out of it before needing another one.
Last November, though, Aubrie was fed up with the dialysis, and the little bit of her kidneys that still worked was starting to fail. So they got her on the donor list and were shocked to get a call within a couple of weeks. Because of the nature of transplants, families have mere hours to accept the organ and be available for the operation, or it’s given to the next available person on the list.
Aubrie was getting cleaned up and into her hospital gown when the message came down: the donor kidney had failed the last test. It was too risky. Over the past nine months, there have been several other close matches, but for a variety of reasons, it never worked out. Aubrie and her family pushed on.
“She’s not scared of it,” said her sister Breanna. “I think it’s from when you stare death in the face and say, ‘That’s too bad, I’m living.’”
At Kidney Kamp, Aubrie and her sisters were just warming up for a shot at the karaoke machine when the call came –it was a go. But the precocious teen wasn’t quite ready to go. Karaoke is a favorite, and the camp gives her a chance to flourish among people like her. So the family asked for and received an extra hour before they had to be in the hospital.
That Saturday night was a long one, spent waiting for another kidney transplant and a heart transplant to finish up in the operating room. They passed the time in the hospital chapel, and finally it was their turn. Four hours later the kidney that belonged to someone who was now dead was starting to do its job inside Aubrie.
“You know somebody has given their life, but at the same time, they’ve given new life,” said her father.
Aubrie has a long road to recovery, and will always have to take anti-rejection medication. But as a Provo family can attest, the benefits are almost immediate.
Fourteen-year-old John Kiefer got a new kidney –from his older sister Jennie — in May. John’s growth had also been stunted by kidney problems, but since the transplant he has grown 2 inches and put on 20 pounds.
“They say I’m taller and I look better,” said John, who started to notice the little things in life that others take for granted, like being able to sleep on his stomach at night instead of on his back for dialysis.
Families are often a source of donor organs, like in John’s case. In Aubrie’s case, there wasn’t a match, even after her dad lost 100 pounds to get within testing parameters.
Aubrie’s new kidney came from a 27-year-old donor and it’s used to being in a much larger, older body. She will be in the hospital until the kidney learns how to function in a smaller frame. After that, she will go back to the hospital to be monitored twice a week for the next two months, and then once every two weeks. Once doctors believe she is well enough, they will check her once a month, for the rest of her life.
Even though Aubrie is stuck in a hospital recovering, she’s already enjoying life with the new kidney.
She got to treat herself to a hotdog this week in the hospital cafeteria. Hotdogs were a no-no while she was on dialysis because they contain high amounts of phosphorus and salt. She could eat only part of one before the transplant.
When asked what she is going to do now that she couldn’t do before, she shrugged and said, “I haven’t planned it all out yet.” A moment later, she thought of something. “Take a bubble bath.”
My name is Christine N., I am the recipient of the $700 scholarship from the National Kidney Foundation of Utah & Idaho. I can’t describe how happy and thankful I was when I first read the letter explaining I had received a scholarship to go back to school. This time has been so financially trying (insurance benefits changed, and I had to pay an increase in my co-pay). I had to take out a loan last year for school, but that always makes me very worried (what if I’m not healthy enough to pay it off when it comes due?). The tuition assistance was a wonderful peace of mind. I am on track, ready to start the semester and continue studying! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. –Christine.
My husband and I would like to say thank you for the tremendous financial grant to pay our power bill. We have been in such a financial crunch to pay all our medical bills. We are in the process of trying to lose enough weight for my husband to qualify to be on the kidney transplant waiting list. We are hoping that by October, he will be healthy enough to be eligible to be on the waiting list. We truly appreciate great organizations, like the Kidney Foundation, who help people like us in need. We are greatly in your debt, and praise God for another day. We also pray for all of those who help us with my husband’s kidney problems on a daily basis; our doctors, nurses, and dialysis technicians. Without the help and support of others, I know we could not make it. We barely survive on my income. Just know, that your help and kindness to us was deeply appreciated. We keep you in our prayers that you may continue to help others, like us, who are in need. Thanks to you, and all the Kidney Cars and other donations that make it possible for you to help us. Sincerely, R. & C. Tuttle, SLC, UT
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32490342/ns/business-autos
Car shoppers have a few more days to take advantage of popular program
msnbc.com news services
updated 2:41 p.m. MT, Thurs., Aug 20, 2009
The Obama administration plans to end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.
The Transportation Department said Thursday the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.
“It’s been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America,” Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “Now we are working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program.”
Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and are on pace to exhaust the program’s $3 billion in early September. The incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales. Administration officials said they have reviewed nearly 40 percent of the transactions and have already paid out $145 million to dealers.
Administration officials said applications for rebates will not be accepted after 8 p.m. EDT Monday and dealers should not make additional sales without receiving all the necessary paperwork from their customers. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.
President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been “successful beyond anybody’s imagination” but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers “will get their money.”
Dealers have complained of delays in getting reimbursed and backlogs of vehicle paperwork getting processed in the program. Dealers have said they face a risk of not being reimbursed but LaHood has pledged that dealers will get paid for the incentives.
The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the dealer paperwork.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32490342/ns/business-autos/
For more Political Cartoons on Cash for Clunkers visit MSNBC at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32301112/ns/business-autos/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1&beginChapter=1&beginTab=1
This letter is in regard to your organization helping my husband and me through crises. We would like to say a very heart felt (or should we say “kidney”) thank you for the help in paying our utility bill. We knew of Foundations like yours was out there, but we didn’t need it at the time. That’s when we thought my husband was healthy with only high blood pressure. Then in April 2008 we discovered a sore on his back over the kidney area. Doctors did tests on it and found it he was in renal failure. Plus, on top of that he is diabetic. We started seeing a kidney specialist, but didn’t have any insurance. The social worker at the dialysis center did everything she could to help us. She helped us get coverage for dialysis. This is January 2009, and you helped us pay our power bill. I want you to know how much this help has meant to us. It has been a hard year, and we are so very grateful for the help we have received. Thank you, thank you.
http://www.sltrib.com/valleywest/ci_11576573
Kidney Kars » The South Jordan resident was picked from about 10,000 contest entries.
Photo courtesy National Kidney Foundation Richard and Shoran Cloward and their neighbors, Gary and Darlene Odenwalder, spent four days in Pebble Beach, Calif., as winners of National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Cars 25th anniversary sweepstakes.
When a South Jordan resident donated his ‘93 Dodge truck to a charity organization last October, he had no idea he was entering a sweepstakes.
Needless to say, Richard Cloward was nothing short of surprised after winning a three-night, four-day trip to Pebble Beach, Calif.
The National Kidney Foundation decided to hold a contest as part of its car-for-charity program’s 25th anniversary to distinguish Kidney Kars among its emulators, said Luz Lewis-Perez, director of development and programs of National Kidney Foundation of Utah.
“There’s been too many copy cats in the past years,” she said, adding Kidney Kars was the nation’s first car-for-charity program.
Everyone who donated vehicles to the foundation between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 was automatically entered in the sweepstakes. Among nearly 10,000 donations nationwide within those four months, 1,443 cars were from the Beehive State.
“We’re so glad someone in Utah got to win this contest,” Lewis-Perez said. “Utahns have been so generous to Kidney Kars.”
When Cloward learned he won the grand prize, he was a bit skeptical.
“You’re always a little suspicious, but it took a couple of questions and answers [to know] it was legit,” he said.
Cloward has donated three other vehicles to the program before: a ‘95 Dodge Intrepid with a blown engine and two Ford trucks — one with a dead engine and another with a defunct transmission — that he used for his own business,
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The $20,000 value vacation was paid for four people, so Cloward invited his wife of 45 years, Shoran, and next-door neighbors Gary and Darlene Odenwalder.
“I play golf, and he doesn’t, so it’s a trip of a lifetime for a golfer to go to Pebble Beach,” Gary Odenwalder said.
Utah’s program is among the top three most substantive car donation programs in the nation, Lewis-Perez said. Donors are usually families with children seeking a tax deduction, and Utah fits those demographics well.
The majority of donated cars National Kidney Foundation receives are 13 years or older and are parted and recycled if they don’t pass safety and emission inspection.
Lewis-Perez said it’s a great way to get rid of a car that no longer runs, takes up driveway space and is a hazard to the environment with its low fuel efficiency and high emissions.
However, about a quarter of all donated vehicles can be resold, she said, and 87 cents for every $1 raised goes toward care for local kidney patients, according to the foundation’s Web site. The money is used for medical research and kidney screenings for about 4,000 dialysis and transplant patients.
“There’s not a more responsible way to get rid of a vehicle,” Lewis-Perez said.
It typically takes two to five business days after the Kidney Foundation receives your information. It is also possible to request 24 hour pick up service (in most areas) for special circumstances.
Kidney Kars accepts any car that has a clear title, inflated tires and has not been dismantled or parted out. It can tow your vehicle from almost anywhere.
The tax deduction generally applies to those who itemize deductions on their 1040 federal tax return. The amount of the tax deduction depends on the actual sale value of the Kidney Kar donation.
Source: http://www.towkars.org/faq.php.
Donation informationTo donate a car, truck, motor home or boat to Kidney Kars, call 800-TOW-KARS (869-5277) or visit www.towkars.org/howtodonate.php.
