Hi guys, I'm Raegan. I'm 17 years old...and here is my story. Please take the time to read it...
In Jr. High School, I was overweight and not happy with myself. I would exercise and diet nothing worked, but no one suspected anything was wrong. People would only comment and make fun of me, but no one knew what I was really going through. I got to High School and I started playing sports with the school, and I lost a little weight, but as soon as I had lost it, I gained it all back. In between my freshman and sophomore year, I went to my doctors for a sports physical and, and I found out that my blood pressure was through the roof. Normal blood pressure is 120/70. Mine was 210/112. Something was wrong. I went in for more testing and found out that I was in severe kidney failure. I needed a kidney transplant. I was immediately placed on dialysis after we found out that my mom could not donate her kidney to me. Her kidney function wasn't that great either. Dialysis is a process where a nurse hooks you up to a machine through a tube coming from you heart, and runs a cycle that cleans your blood. It replaces your kidney, but only temporarily. I went to my dialysis sessions every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and even sometimes on Monday for 4 hours each day. I lost 40 pounds within 3 months. And I still hadn't gotten my transplant. My Dad wanted to donate his kidney to me, but he has a disease known as MS and was immediately ruled out. Next, my sister went in to get tested, but they found stage 4 lung cancer. She is terminal. She was also ruled out. All of our family, friends, past teachers, people from our church, even people I didn't know, went to get tested. No one passed. I went through 25 donor possibilities when it usually only takes 3 or 4. I had almost given up hope, so I went to my youth pastor. I walked into his office, and before I had even gotten one word out of my mouth, he said, "I have been expecting you." We talked for about 10 minutes, and he said to me, "Raegan, I am your match. There is no doubt in my mind. Let me go in for testing." Now I am a blonde, Caucasian, then 16 year old girl and he was a middle aged Vietnamese man with 4 kids. The first thought that entered my mind when he said this was “You have got to be kidding me.” But, two months later, on our surgery date, November 10, 2005, we met in the Hospital lobby and said a prayer. Both surgeries went extremely well, and I have been healthy for a year now. Tony, My youth pastor, is doing great; he has 4 kids, with one more on the way...
Now you may wonder why I took the time to tell you this, but I have one simple reason. The other people who were on dialysis when I was are still there. They are not as lucky as I am. They have no one. And I wanted to see if you could help me. This is my one year anniversary and they are still waiting for the life-saving organ they need.
There is an online registry for Organ Donation. Don't worry, if you sign up, you won't get a call saying "We need one of your kidneys. Come to the hospital." But this website has already saved thousands of lives. What happens if you register online is you are put into a data base and if something were to happen, like a car crash, and you pass on, your registration allows doctors to save up to 8 people's lives with your organs.
The website is www.donatelifecalifornia.org. If you live in another state, just type DonateLife and your state name into the search box on your internet provider webpage. Your state's site should show up. Once you register, PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!
If you do not believe in organ donation, please just pass it on so that those who do want to participate can have a chance.
We all deserve a good life. I'm one of the few individuals who got a second chance at it. Please help. Seventeen people die a day waiting for an organ. Together, let’s make the wait for an organ virtually nonexistent.
Thank you for reading this, I really appreciate it, and I hope that I can change at least one person’s life.
God Bless,
Raegan Pratt
