Please help a fellow blogger...

This is reposted from the Domestic Diva's blog. Please help her sweet girl if you can.

Things continue to be difficult. But where there is life, there is hope.

I’m forcing myself to blog so I can update all my dear friends and family about what is going on with my sweet Sunshine Girl, Marielle, as her kidneys fail. It looks like we are on the way to the local emergency room again tonight–she’s in terrible pain and a bit lethargic.

After continued difficultly getting calls returned and kidney donor evaluation packages send to those who have come forward to donate their kidneys, we’ve given up on the Philadelphia hospital of ever finding a living kidney donor. They’ve recently told us they will only test family members and the closest of friends. They’ve taken it upon themselves to decide who our friends are. Philadelphia has only tested 3 donors in 4 months. To say I am furious is an understatement.

But there is hope. We are in the process of transferring Marielle’s care to NY Presbyterian-Columbia University Hospital (NYP) in hopes their additional living-donor kidney programs will save her life. Not only will NYP consider family members as donors, but are willing to evaluate EVERYONE (friends, associates and kind strangers) who wants to donate a kidney. That’s right…EVERYONE regardless of blood type, antibody mismatch, age, etc. They offer several kidney donor options for us:

Compatible Living Donor

Incompatible Donor Program

Paired Donor Exchange Program

Deceased Donor Program

Marielle will only match 1 in 50 people in the general population (average person matches 1 in 2). I am asking EVERYONE who has ever loved a child as deeply as I do my daughter to please consider being a living-kidney donor to her. You might be the one who can save my daughter’s life.

If you would like to receive a donor consent form to see if you could be a potential donor, please print out this form:

kidneydonorquestionnaire

Then send it to Joan Kelly either by email at kellyja@nyp.org or fax (212) 305-9642. Be sure to put MARIELLE CARROCCIO as the Potential Recipient’s Name.

Please pass this information along to anyone and everyone.

I continue to be comforted by the tremendous amount of love and support from all of you.

Thank you seems to fall short.