Shelby Rosengren

You Can Help Make a Difference

My name is Shelby Rosengren and I am 29 years. Following a completely healthy, low-risk, pregnancy, my water broke at 36 and a half weeks and Owen Thomas made his debut into the world. I wish I could say all went well and we went straight home to celebrate our first Christmas together as a family of three. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Owen was immediately taken away and transferred to a different hospital to undergo a cooling treatment to slow down some of the trauma done during labor and birth. He’s perfect now but my struggles have continued. After losing nearly 3L of blood, gaining 20 pounds, and spending two days at the original hospital I was transferred to the same hospital as Owen. On Christmas Eve, we found out I was in kidney failure.

The doctors had high hopes my kidneys would heal themselves and reverse the damage on their own but after 6 months of hemodialysis 3 times/week, altering my diet, and attempting to find a new “normal” my doctors officially called it. I was in End Stage Renal Failure and I was going to need a kidney transplant.

Now, after 10 months of dialysis, doctors appointments, catheter placements, catheter replacements, and catheter removals, lab tests, a kidney biopsy, and a 1,000 miles move, our bills are starting to add up and the process isn’t close to over. I’m looking at a lifetime of medical bills to go with my transplant, medicines, and follow up doctors visits. Not to mention the probability that I’ll need at least one more transplant in my lifetime. We’ve managed alright until now but the bills and expenses are adding up and we need help.

If you feel so moved, please donate. All the money raised will be used to pay hospital bills, prescriptions (of which there are many), and specialty visits for Shelby. Unfortunately, even though we are getting closer and closer to transplant, the bills won’t stop once it’s done.