Sam's Story
...in her own words
Who am i?
My name is Samantha and I am in search of a living kidney donor. I grew up in the woods of Southern Kentucky with my parents, a truly top notch sister and a loyal canine companion named Keesh. Although we had electricity, we drew water from a hand pump and heated our house with a wood burning stove. We would spend hot days swimming in Lake Cumberland and loved to hike all over in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I am now married with a grown daughter of my own. I enjoyed working as a Corporate Accountant for many years.
What i love to do
I love spending time with my family which includes two goofball dogs. We enjoy all kinds of creative activities together, like painting, as well as getting together for barbeques and going on mini trips. I also enjoy being involved with my church: I taught a Sunday school class for many years and most recently have worked with the church youth. My husband and I went on a mission trip with the youth providing meals while they worked. I love to make personalized greeting cards for those who really need to know someone is thinking of them.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ME
I’ve lived a truly blessed life, but not without some challenges; the biggest being that I developed type 1 Diabetes as a very young child. Dealing with diabetes is something I’ve dealt with practically my whole life. About 25 years ago, diabetes caused my kidneys to fail, and I had a kidney transplant. That allowed me to do all those things that make life so fulfilling; like work, have a family and spend time with friends. That kidney was such a blessing, but it is no longer working, and I am in need of a new one. I’m currently on dialysis 3 days a week and while I consider dialysis to be another blessing as it keeps my blood clean and allows me to function, the process is not a one-to-one replacement for normal kidney function, and it is not sustainable long term.
Over the years with the many health problems I've experienced, I've had a lot of blood transfusions. Because I've gotten blood from so many people, I have a large number of antibodies in my system. That makes finding a match a whole lot harder, so a living donor is my only option.
I know giving a kidney is a huge deal and it will take a miracle to find somebody that is in great health and willing to give one of their kidneys. If you're not that person, please share my story to help me find that one-in-a-million person. Just by sharing my story, you might be the one to save my life by connecting me with my donor.