Shawn is a loving husband, wonderful father to my stepdaughter, Hannah (18) who is just starting college and our son Jackson (14), who will be a freshman in high school. He is a, brother, son, cousin, uncle and good friend to many. Originally, he had to take a short leave of absence from work when he was diagnosed so he could adjust to dialysis but then continued to work full time while undergoing dialysis 3-5 days every week. Following the transplant, Shawn was able to be more active with Jackson and Hannah, watching them grow, going on to middle and high school, sending them to college and enjoying a long and healthy life until this year.
Early this year (2021) a hernia and pneumonia caused his body to start rejecting the donated kidney. The doctors were able to stop the damage but not before it had caused 40% damage to the donor kidney. The donor kidney produced foreign antibodies but the doctors were not able to rid his body of these antibodies. Due to COVID he did not work for almost all of 2020. He was scheduled to start a new job the day the government shut everything down. Because he had not actually reported to the job he was not able to draw unemployment and did not have insurance. When he got sick in early 2021 he was hospitalized three times and incurred medical bills totaling over $200,000 (discounted due to no insurance-ha). His family has always kidded him that if it weren’t for bad luck he’d have no luck at all and this year has proven that to be true.
Just before he got sick we decided to sell our very old home and start construction on a new but smaller home. The home sold much faster than expected and we ended up moving in with my parents while the new house was under construction. Not long after we moved in with parents there was a bout of COVID that hit several of my family members including my parents. We were forced to find another place to live in order to quarantine from COVID. Fortunately, Shawn’s parents had an RV they were able to let us live in for 6 weeks. Shawn had recently been released from the hospital and COVID would have likely been a death sentence for him.
The Drs at Baylor recommended a drug trial that was aimed at ridding his body of the foreign antibodies, but unfortunately there was too much damage to the kidney and his creatinine levels were too high for him to be part of the study. The doctors told him it is just a matter of time before the kidney quits functioning and he has to go back on dialysis, therefore needing a new kidney.
As he was starting the process to get back on the transplant list and start preparing for dialysis our14-year-old son had a BMX bicycle accident and broke his jaw in three places, shattered his chin and broke the bone between his nose and upper lip, requiring surgery and having his mouth wired shut. Again, no insurance so we incurred another almost $100,000 in medical bills. We are trying not to let the stress of all this debt cause additional medical problems so we just try to keep working and trying to move forward.
Shawn now has a job and has insurance but it is too late to cover our son’s expenses but it will cover some of his transplant costs but certainly not all. The doctors have told him if he can’t find a living donor he will likely be on dialysis and on the wait list for 5-7 years. His mother is a match and is getting tested but she is over 60 and the age range is to donate is 18-60. If he’s at a life-or-death stage they would consider her as his donor but the doctors prefer not to do that.
Shawn just wants to continue to be a full participant in his kid’s life and activities. Having kidney disease and being on dialysis limits his abilities to always be there for his kids and his family, putting much of the day to day burden of bills and other things on me. His immediate family helps as much as they can but none of them can take on that kind of debt or expenses.
As you can imagine, a transplant is very expensive. Even with insurance there are many expenses that must be covered out of pocket. Our out of pocket expenses could exceed $25,000. Some of these are co-pays, deductibles, clinic visits, lab fees, travel to and from the transplant center and Shawn will be on a life-time of expensive anti-rejection medications. In addition, Shawn will not be able to go back to work for three months post-transplant. The original $9500 that was raised in 2016 helped tremendously in covering these out-of-pocket medical costs for the first transplant, but now that he needs another, your support is needed even more.
To help with the financial burden of Shawn’s uninsured expenses, this fundraising campaign in his honor has been re-activated with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law, are held by Help Hope Live in the South-Central Kidney Transplant Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for transplant-related expenses only.
To make a donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the Donate Now button.
If you would like to get involved with fundraising in honor of Shawn or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. On behalf of Shawn, Jackson, Hannah and our family, thank you for your kindness, generosity, support and prayers.
Monica Wilson
972-825-1219
[email protected]
