Valora Butt-Hawkins

Community, Family, and Friends, let’s help get Valora  (AKA Ms. Vee) back to serving the community!

 Valora is a wonderful daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, and friend.  Before all the health issues, she was active in her community and full of life. Her favorite pastime is spending quality time with her family, church family, and friends. Valora has been managing her health issues with meditation, medication, and diet changes. Once she found out that both her kidneys were depleting faster than anybody would imagine. Her transplant medical team determined that it would be critical for her to begin dialysis as soon as possible. She has undergone all the necessary surgeries at this point and is now waiting for the Fistula to mature to use it. She is expected to begin Dialysis at the end of December. She has been approved to receive a kidney transplant and is now active on the waiting list for a donor kidney to become available.  She is also looking for a living donor.

Valora loves spending quality time with her family and close friends. During her downtime or quiet time, she likes to listen to music, such as gospel, old-school, & jazz. Additionally, she enjoys reading and studying. In fact, she loves learning so much that her family teases her because she is always studying, they gave her the nickname of “the professional student.” One other thing that people notice and love about her is that she has the spirit of helping others. Cheerful and helpful, she has been a bright light in the lives of everyone she has known.

Since her diagnosis of failing kidneys, Valora has been on a strict diet, which is very hard at times, due to high food prices, along with daily exercise to help ease some of the pain.  She struggles with sleep, as muscle cramps and pain go through her body.  Oftentimes, she misses out on social occasions and family events.  Due to the late-night pain keeping her up, she is tired all day long.

Valora is fundraising for the cost of relocating close to her transplant team, as she will need to stay nearby for a few weeks after her release from the hospital.  She will also need to pay her co-payment for the surgery and wants to be able to cover the costs for a living donor if she can find one. Valora’s transplant team estimates this will cost about $18,000.00.  This amount could double or even triple if she experiences any setbacks or complications.

She hopes to get back to a better quality of life. She wishes to resume helping the community, family, friends, and serving at her church home.  Valora believes that fundraisers like this one will aid in a successful journey and hopes that this kidney transplant will allow her to get back to her normal life.  She looks forward to resuming her duties as an educator, so she can go back to teaching and continue to enhance her skills.  Valora hopes she will be able to get a job as an instructor teaching an introduction to early childhood courses.

Please donate to Help Hope Live in Valora’s honor today, and ask your friends and family to give, too! We would love to plan some fundraisers in Valora’s honor, so if you can help with that, please contact her mother (Marella Jones) at [email protected], Thank you for your generous support!

Community, Family, Friends, let’s help get Valora (AKA Ms. Vee) back to serving the community again.