Help Me by Sharing This Post
My name is Betty Ann. I was born with just one functioning kidney but now that kidney is failing. I need a kidney. Not necessarily your kidney, but someone's. You can help just by sharing this post with your Friends on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media. Together we can find that angel willing and able to do the extraordinary to save my life.
Ultimately I need an angel to step forward to save my life by volunteering to give me a kidney (blood type O). Tall order, I know. It's a big ask. So I'm not asking. But I am asking for your help in another way. There's something else that you can do to help me (and others with a similar need), even if you're not a donor: I'd like you to spread the word by sharing this request, and I'll show you how to do that in this post. Your job simply would be to get the word out about my need for a kidney.
My Story
I am a wife, a mother and a very proud grandmother. Prior to 2007, I lived a fairly normal middle class life. I was raised with my sisters and brothers in the U.S. and around the world as an Army brat. I went to college in Ohio to study early childhood education. After moving to Atlanta to be with family, I worked for and then ran a day care center, married and now have two incredible children (both now married with five special grandchildren between them). I enjoyed my work with children and raising my kids, working at church on the Altar Guild and traveling with my husband for business and leisure.
Then, very suddenly in 2007 I went into acute kidney failure, developed sepsis and spent 30 days in ICU at Emory University Hospital where they literally saved my life. During that time, kidney doctors discovered that I had been born with only one functioning kidney. When it got blocked, I went into renal failure.
For the first time, I had decreased kidney function which continued to deteriorate over the next 10 years. My kidney function is now down to 10%.
My surgeons believe that I am an excellent candidate for kidney transplant. My family has been tested but none of my family has qualified to be a donor.
How You Can Help Me:
I need you to share this story. I am told that the more people who know of my need, the better is my chance of reaching a person willing to be an altruistic donor. So, now it's all about getting the word out. That's where you come in.
Please give me a few minutes and tell the world about this website (Kidney4BettyAnn.com).
Why this is So Serious - My Options:
Most people have two well-functioning kidneys but can lead a full and equally healthy life with just one kidney. I have only one kidney and it is failing. So, medically I now have only two options to continue living:
If You'd Like More Information:
For more information, please read about the Living Donor Program at the Emory Transplant Center and watch this short video.
To Speak with Someone Confidentially:
If you'd like to speak with someone confidentially (without disclosing your inquiry to me), please see https://emory.donorscreen.org/register/donate-kidney.
They know me as Elizabeth Ann Hudgins, D/O/B 7/23/49. (That's the only way that the Emory Kidney Transplant Center will know whom the caller is calling about.)
Your questions will be answered by a qualified person who is familiar with my case.
Speaking with a staff member is much better than speaking with me. They know far more than I do and you will get better information from them. So please, feel free to contact them.
Keep in mind that a confidential phone call to the hospital does not come with any obligations to proceed further, or have your friends call.
Help Me by Sharing. Unfortunately, "Likes" are Not Enough:
So, please help me by sharing this post with your Facebook and other friends. Please do more than "like" or comment. Likes and comments are the "hopes and prayers" of social media. I pray you take action. Shares = action; the action needed here.
Together, we can do it.
Thank you,
Betty Ann
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*I have registered at Emory University Kidney Transplant Center and am also in the Paired Kidney Exchange Registry that matches recipients and donors so that recipients with non-matching volunteer donors can be coupled in a chain of transplants that delivers to each recipient a compatible donor. I am also on the UNOS registry for a cadaver kidney but I may be looking at a wait of 6 years or more.
My name is Betty Ann. I was born with just one functioning kidney but now that kidney is failing. I need a kidney. Not necessarily your kidney, but someone's. You can help just by sharing this post with your Friends on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media. Together we can find that angel willing and able to do the extraordinary to save my life.
Betty Ann Hudgins and Family
Ultimately I need an angel to step forward to save my life by volunteering to give me a kidney (blood type O). Tall order, I know. It's a big ask. So I'm not asking. But I am asking for your help in another way. There's something else that you can do to help me (and others with a similar need), even if you're not a donor: I'd like you to spread the word by sharing this request, and I'll show you how to do that in this post. Your job simply would be to get the word out about my need for a kidney.
My Story
I am a wife, a mother and a very proud grandmother. Prior to 2007, I lived a fairly normal middle class life. I was raised with my sisters and brothers in the U.S. and around the world as an Army brat. I went to college in Ohio to study early childhood education. After moving to Atlanta to be with family, I worked for and then ran a day care center, married and now have two incredible children (both now married with five special grandchildren between them). I enjoyed my work with children and raising my kids, working at church on the Altar Guild and traveling with my husband for business and leisure.
Then, very suddenly in 2007 I went into acute kidney failure, developed sepsis and spent 30 days in ICU at Emory University Hospital where they literally saved my life. During that time, kidney doctors discovered that I had been born with only one functioning kidney. When it got blocked, I went into renal failure.
For the first time, I had decreased kidney function which continued to deteriorate over the next 10 years. My kidney function is now down to 10%.
My surgeons believe that I am an excellent candidate for kidney transplant. My family has been tested but none of my family has qualified to be a donor.
How You Can Help Me:
I need you to share this story. I am told that the more people who know of my need, the better is my chance of reaching a person willing to be an altruistic donor. So, now it's all about getting the word out. That's where you come in.
Please give me a few minutes and tell the world about this website (Kidney4BettyAnn.com).
- Email: Send this website to your friends (all of them) by email.
- Facebook: Post a small note on Facebook with a link to this website (icon above).
- LinkedIn: Post a small note on LinkedIn with a link to this website (icon above).
- Other Social Media Sites: Post a small note with a link to this website (icons below).
And please ask your contacts, readers, friends and acquaintances to do the same (to give this webpage exponential distribution).
Why this is So Serious - My Options:
Most people have two well-functioning kidneys but can lead a full and equally healthy life with just one kidney. I have only one kidney and it is failing. So, medically I now have only two options to continue living:
- dialysis (shortened life expectancy)
- transplant (a new lease on life)
According to USRDS data, Kidney transplant recipients fare far better
than dialysis patients. I need those additional years in order to continue helping others.
Also, if a willing donor is not an exact match (even not the same blood type), through an arrangement called "Paired Kidney Donation*" (kidney swapping) a
donor who is not a match for me might be a match for someone else and I
would be eligible to receive that person's donor's kidney that would be
a match for me.
If You'd Like More Information:
For more information, please read about the Living Donor Program at the Emory Transplant Center and watch this short video.
Lloyd E. Ratner, MD, New York Presbyterian-Columbia
To Speak with Someone Confidentially:
If you'd like to speak with someone confidentially (without disclosing your inquiry to me), please see https://emory.donorscreen.org/register/donate-kidney.
They know me as Elizabeth Ann Hudgins, D/O/B 7/23/49. (That's the only way that the Emory Kidney Transplant Center will know whom the caller is calling about.)
Your questions will be answered by a qualified person who is familiar with my case.
Speaking with a staff member is much better than speaking with me. They know far more than I do and you will get better information from them. So please, feel free to contact them.
Keep in mind that a confidential phone call to the hospital does not come with any obligations to proceed further, or have your friends call.
Help Me by Sharing. Unfortunately, "Likes" are Not Enough:
So, please help me by sharing this post with your Facebook and other friends. Please do more than "like" or comment. Likes and comments are the "hopes and prayers" of social media. I pray you take action. Shares = action; the action needed here.
Together, we can do it.
Thank you,
Betty Ann
-------
*I have registered at Emory University Kidney Transplant Center and am also in the Paired Kidney Exchange Registry that matches recipients and donors so that recipients with non-matching volunteer donors can be coupled in a chain of transplants that delivers to each recipient a compatible donor. I am also on the UNOS registry for a cadaver kidney but I may be looking at a wait of 6 years or more.
