Melissa Tuff

Help Me Get A New Kidney!

My name is Melissa, and I am in need of a life-saving kidney transplant. At age 16 I was diagnosed with Rapidly Progressive Glomerulonephritis and within two weeks of this diagnosis, on my 17th birthday, I started hemodialysis, a form of treatment for end-stage renal disease. Despite the statistics and the odds against me, I survived nine years of this grueling treatment while waiting on the kidney transplant wait list until I received a call for a match– my gift of life! That selfless gift gave me nearly 11 years of freedom but due to a rejection episode I now find myself in need of another transplant and back on dialysis.

The unfortunate part of kidney disease is that there is NO CURE at this time. A living donor transplant is considered the best form of treatment for my particular condition given my age, extremely high antibodies, and previous long history of dialysis. I have been actively searching for a living donor in addition to being placed on the national wait list which could take a decade or more!

Even with Medicare I will have many uninsured transplant-related expenses such as: co-pays and deductibles (which includes a 20% co-insurance fee in addition to a monthly share of cost of over $1400 before Medicaid will pick up any additional expenses), doctor visits and the costly immunosuppressant medications that I will need to take for the rest of my life. Due to these large out-of-pocket expenses, Both hospitals I am listed with in Florida requires me to have at least $12,548 in available funds at all times to be considered “financially eligible” for transplant. This figure was based on my estimated 20% co-pays and six months of my share-of-costs.

In addition to the nearly $13,000 I require to be put on the transplant list I also have to raise money to pay for my travel and lodging in the Tampa or Weston area after surgery which is just over 2 hours away from my home. Both hospitals require anyone who lives outside of the immediate area stay local to the hospital 4-6 weeks post op since the follow-up appointments are so often (3-4 times a week) and organ rejection is most likely during this critical time so driving two and a half hours several times a week on pain medication with an large abdominal incision would be impossible for me to do on my own hence why I need to plan to stay in the area for a short period after surgery.

To aid with the financial burden of my transplant expenses, a fundraising campaign in my honor has been established with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based funding 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 Southeast Kidney Transplant Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for transplant-related expenses only. Please consider a making a contribution today and click the DONATE NOW button.

Thank you for your prayers, support, healing vibes, well wishes, and most of all, your generosity. I couldn’t do this without all of you and ask that you keep an eye on my campaign page or notice of fundraising events and posted updates on my status.

Love, blessings, and gratitude, Melissa Tuff 239-895-6696