People ask me all the time, what is my motivation to advocate for Pediatric Kidney Patients? This lady in the photograph is. Her name was Maureen O'Brien. She was one of the first people in Indiana on dialysis at the age of 6. This was not in the era of Medicare/ automatic qualification for dialysis. Little Maureen and her parents had to fight to get her on lifesaving dialysis, and pay $40,000 cash. She and her Mother had to be trained to use a dialysis machine, with a plastic wrap filter that frequently failed. Maureen missed a tremendous amount of school due to dialysis. She was one of the first children to be transplanted in Indiana. In total she was transplanted 3xs. She went on to become a nurse. This #Giving Tuesday my gift is to make her story known and to honor all Pediatric Kidney Patients and their caretakers. She looked after me when I first started dialysis. Great respect and love for this heroine. Peace to all Pediatric Kidney Patients on this Thanksgiving.
#kidneypatients #loveyourkidneys #letcharitiesbecharitable #curePKD #GetLoudForKidneys #PediatricKidneyPatients #Maureenismyhero
Worried Mom thinking the worst
