Grateful

At some point during our final waiting period, friends and family were asking how they could help from afar, so Jeff set up a GoFundMe for us.

What a huge gift! We were so grateful for the funds to put towards fuel and other necessities as we focused our attention on surgery prep.

We ended up driving over 8,000 miles in 2023 just for doctor’s appointments and meetings, so we definitely put the wear and tear on both vehicles.

It was incredible to receive so many kind notes from people, comments on Instagram and Facebook; even some from people we had never met before! What a crazy emotion to experience all of that and to know that we had a village around the globe rooting for us. We were overwhelmed with love.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to our needs during this process. Thank you to all of you who sent gift cards, or said “call me when you need dinner, I’ll order it”. And my friend Christine who hand-printed a bunch of kidney donor/recipient tee’s for us to wear after the surgery, then drove an hour to bring them to me so I wouldn’t have to leave town!

And our darling family friend Darcy who sent things to Jeff’s sisters house so we’d have gifts waiting when we arrived there for our 3-week stay. I have the kidney artwork on the wall and look at it every day!

I think all these things… the gifts, the notes, the friendly phone calls, really helped it all feel real. Like if the whole world knew, it had to be happening, right? I can’t imagine not sharing this with our community and being able to accept the love and support they were so ready to give.