3 years ago my father was suddenly hospitalized and diagnosed with end stage renal failure and was put on dialysis right away. He went in for a regular physical for his job and that same day the doctor wanted him to be hospitalized. He refused and I had to leave work so that I could convince him to go. I'm so glad that he did because his potassium levels were deadly.

After almost 3 weeks in the hospital he was released but had to continue dialysis 3x a week which meant he was no longer able to work. Luckily because he is a veteran, he had the VA covering the costs for treatment. It was hard seeing this strong hard headed man going thru all this but we continued to be there. There were days were he would come home and would sleep forever because dialysis just drained him. He finally got the option to do PD dialysis, this is where a "bag" is inserted thru the abdomen not needing to do hemo dialysis and he does the dialysis at home at night while he sleeps. With this type of treatment we saw a big change in him he was more energetic and had life again.

All this wonderful improvement didn't change the fact that he still needed a kidney. He is still waiting on the transplant list. I asked him what he wanted to when he did get one. He said

"get my life back and work". He never seems to stop amazing me. He's so strong mentally and everyday hes outside doing something in his yard. I wanted to be his donor but I ended finding out I was pregnant and later needed to make arrangements to have my kids taken care of while my husband works. So now that things are getting in order, I'm ready.

This week I have spoken with the nurse coordinater about donating my kidney. I was told that I seemed qualified except for my weight and in order to continue to testing stage I would need to lose weight. So now I'm on my journey to lose 25 lbs.