Georgia Transplant Portal

For every dollar you give, Georgia Transplant Foundation will match it with a dollar!

Dear Friends,

Hello, and welcome to my Fundraising website! My name is Andy Hall and I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a practicing landscape architect and attended Landscape Architecture school at the University of Georgia. During my years as a landscape architect I've done many projects throughout the south including Philips Arena in Atlanta and portions of the streetscape for Centennial Olympic Park. I also was lead landscape designer for the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.

I also consider myself an amateur watercolor artist (please visit my blog site http://a100-in-a100.blogspot.com). Besides painting I also love the Georgia coast where I was raised and developed a love for the water and sailing.

As my friends and family know, I have been suffering for some years with ESRD. What in the world is ESRD? It stands for End Stage Renal Disease and means simply that my kidneys are dying and that I’m in the final stage of their useful function. As my mother did until her death in 2001, I’ve had kidney disease since my early 20s and, over the years, my kidney function has deteriorated to the point that I now effectively have only about 10 percent of my original kidney function left.

In 2006 my kidney doctor urged me to be pro-active and consider a kidney transplant. I contacted Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and went through all of the intense procedures to determine if I was a candidate for a transplant and I was accepted. When Piedmont Hospital placed me on the transplant list they were hoping I would receive a kidney before I had to go on dialysis. They knew, as my wife Gale and I do, that some 17,000 Americans die each year, even on dialysis, while waiting for a kidney and that almost 2,700 people are waiting for a kidney presently in Georgia.

I have just recently visited my kidney doctor and he’s informed me that it won’t be long before I have to go on dialysis. Dialysis, a medical procedure that uses a machine to artificially cleanse the blood can keep me alive but can never replace a living kidney. Once on dialysis, my quality of life will diminish drastically and, as with all artificial means, eventually my related organs will begin to lose their ability to function. Since dialysis is never as effective as a real kidney, all patients reach a point at which, emotionally and physically, they are no longer candidates for a transplant. In middle age, I am young and healthy enough to accept a transplant kidney and handle all of the medical protocols to care for it through a normal lifespan.

Now, as part of my long term planning I’ve been accepted to participate in the Georgia Transplant Foundation matching donation program. I am fundraising for costs related to my kidney transplant that will not be covered by my insurance. Through my involvement with GTF, I am eligible to receive matched funds up to $10,000 for every dollar raised to help cover these costs. I will have to be on anti-rejection medication to prevent a transplanted kidney from rejection for the rest of my life. The cost of immunosuppressive medications typically ranges from $20,600 to $32,900 per year and even with insurance, co-pays can be unaffordable.

I appeal to those of you who might consider being a donor. To donate to my campaign, please click "Contribute." For more information, please contact Holly Vanager-Crummel (GTF Fundraising Program Director) at 1-866-428-9411.

And while I’m asking, would you consider being my Living Kidney Donor Hero? I’m still actively seeking a Kidney Donor to save my life. If you are interested PLEASE call Leanne Whitehead at Piedmont Hospital at 404-605-4605. She’ll treat you like the Hero you can become and it’s totally confidential.

Even if being a donor isn’t something you’d consider may I count on you to pass this appeal on to someone else?

With my sincerest thanks,

Andy Hall

The Facts About Kidney Donation

What does ‘living donor’ mean?

I have two basic sources for a kidney a cadaver kidney from a person who has died or a “living” one from a donor. A living kidney functions longer and more efficiently and the rejection rate is lower.

What happens to the donor?

The donor can live a perfectly normal life with one kidney and, remarkably, the remaining kidney doubles in size to compensate for the lost one. (For further explanation see the link below to Piedmont Hospital)

What is required of a donor?

First, a donor has to match my blood type, which is O and can be positive or negative. Second, a series of markers; in the donor’s and the recipient’s blood must closely match. The donor’s good health must be determined through an extensive physical examination. Only around 5 percent of potential donors actually cross-match with any recipient, which makes the task of finding one doubly difficult.

What expenses are involved?

The original blood work is done at no charge to the donor (and can be done at your doctor’s office or local hospital if you’re not in Atlanta), with the recipient’s insurance usually participating in the actual cost of donation. Since everyone has different insurance, it would be important to first check with your insurance carrier to determine your coverage and what, if anything, it might cost you.

Why not wait until a kidney comes available through the donor list?

I am waiting, but the problem with waiting for a cadaver kidney is that it may never come. Piedmont Transplant Services offers no guarantees; so many people still die waiting for a cadaver kidney.

Here are four useful articles on kidney donation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16kidney-t.html

http://alumni.indiana.edu/magazine/issues/200405/listening.shtml

http://www.piedmonthospital.org/doc/uploads/handbook_donor.pdf http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121693991974182709.html

If you’d like further information, without any kind of commitment, I would simply ask that you call the transplant services office at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and speak with Ms. Leanne Whitehead at 404-605-4605, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. She will answer all of your questions keep your inquiry completely confidential and treat you like the Hero you can become.