Ten months ago, I learned that my friend Trenton desperately needed a kidney transplant. He is in the end stage of renal failure and undergoes peritoneal dialysis every night while he sleeps. Dialysis is keeping Trenton alive, but a kidney transplant is his best hope for a long and healthy life.

Even with insurance, Trenton faces extraordinary transplant related expenses such as co-pays and deductibles, travel to and from the transplant center, and costly immunosuppressant medications that he will have to take for the rest of his life. Lifetime estimates for these medications are between $20,000 and $40,000. Trenton’s been told that he needs to have $6,000 before the doctors can even start the transplant. Funding this life-saving operation is a monumental task that Trenton cannot meet alone.