Nicole Miller

Friends and family, I would like to share my story with you.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1992. I am considered type 1 and am completely insulin dependent because my pancreas produces less than 0.01% of the insulin that would be made by a healthy pancreas. Diabetes, especially type 1, causes extreme stress on many organs and small blood vessels throughout your body. For me, it has caused damage to my eyes, instability with my heart, neuropathy (numbness and sharp pains) in my hands, feet and legs, and now kidney failure. About 10 years ago, my kidneys started to show increasing damage. On June 1, 2018, after almost a year of struggling to prolong my last bit of kidney function, I went into acute renal failure and had to immediately start dialysis. Now, three mornings a week, I am hooked up to a life saving million dollar dialysis machine for almost 5 hours. The stress that dialysis has on my heart is the same as if I were running on a treadmill for that entire time! I come home from dialysis and take a long nap before I am able to function for the day. This is not a good way to live, although I am thankful that there is a way for them to keep me alive! A healthy new pancreas and kidney will be a miracle. I will no longer be a diabetic! I will no longer be checking my blood sugar levels all day long. I will not have to do math in my head every time i take a sip or a bite, trying to figure out how many carbs i may be taking in. I will no longer have to be hooked up to an insulin pump 24/7. I will no longer have to do dialysis. No more tubes or needles. No more running home in the middle of something because i need more insulin or new needles and wires. No more packing a bag of diabetic supplies, testers, and insulin any time i might stay out late. Truly, this will be more of a miracle than I could have imagined until now.

Family and friends, I am raising money for the expenses that my medical insurance does not cover for my pancreas and kidney double transplant surgery and recovery. Copays, deductibles, relocating to live by the hospital for the first month, driving three hours each way for many follow up appointments during the first six months… there are a lot of expenses that insurance just will not cover, but are required by the transplant program. Until I have a minimum of $3,000 raised, I cannot be made active on the list. I must have this money in place to actually get a call for my new organs. What is incredible, though, is that with my blood type and health history, once I am active on the list, it is likely that i will start getting calls in a matter of weeks, not months! So this fundraising campaign is my final hurdle to get that call and my new organs. Terrifying and miraculous all at the same time!

Any donation made in my name to the nonprofit organization “Help Hope Live” will be used only for my uninsured medical expenses, high cost anti-rejection medicines, and other expenses associated with the transplant surgery and recovery. I have chosen to fundraise for my double transplant through them for a few reasons. First, they assure fiscal accountability of funds raised: contributors can be sure their tax deductible donations will be used to pay or reimburse only MY medical and related expenses. I also will not have to pay taxes on your donations. Did you know that if you have a “go fund me” campaign, you need to pay taxes on all of the donations, and the person donating does not get a tax deduction either? With Help Hope Live, everything you are kind enough to donate goes directly to my care!

To make a tax-deductible donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the Give button. For more information, please contact Help Hope Live at 800.642.8399.

Thank you for your support!

Nicole “Nikki” Patlin Miller