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NFT

National Foundation for Transplants

Information

National Foundation for Transplants

NFT is a nonprofit organization that establishes fundraising campaigns in patient communities. We help patients' volunteers raise funds for transplant candidates and recipients so they can focus on their health rather than worry about expenses.

Website: http://www.transplants.org
Location: Memphis, TN
Members: 17
Latest Activity: 1 day ago

NFT patients share their stories.

Discussion Forum

Brian Caneda

fund-raising for myself for the first time 2 Replies

being in the restaurant business as well as living in a small and very giving community, i have done tons of fund-raising but none for myself so the "one" I am working on next month will be a first f…

Started by Brian Caneda. Last reply by Sharon Brown 1 day ago.

NFT

Transplant Fundraising

Did you have to do any fundraising pre or post-transplant? If so, how did you do it?

Started by NFT Jan. 8, 2009.

NFT Blog

September Patient of the Month: David Fraser

Around Easter of 2009, David Fraser and his family had just arrived at the beach for vacation when he had a seizure while unpacking the car. He was rushed to the hospital, and was soon transported to a larger hospital in Orlando, where he stayed for nearly a week. For the next few months, numerous tests and procedures were done until doctors discovered David was suffering from liver disease. Doctors told him a liver transplant was essential to his survival. Thankfully, he received his lifesaving transplant earlier this month and is recovering well.

This hardworking man has a positive attitude and sees no point in focusing on the negative things in life. Even throughout multiple hospitalizations, he has remained optimistic. His personal motto is, "What possible benefit can I get from having a bad or sour attitude?"

David and his wife, Vickie, have three children who hate seeing their dad so sick. His young son still says, "Daddy, don't pick up the black suitcase!" because that is the last memory he has before seeing his dad suffer from a seizure. David loves to spend time outdoors, golf, attend sporting events and play with his children, but his health has prevented him from enjoying his favorite activities very often. Before becoming ill, he spent countless hours volunteering for local charities and planning fundraisers for organizations such as the American Red Cross and Huntington's Disease Society of America. Now, he simply looks forward to resuming a normal life without feeling exhausted all the time.

A liver transplant costs approximately $500,000. And that's only the beginning. Even with health insurance, David faces significant medical expenses related to his transplant. For the rest of his life, he will need follow-up care and daily anti-rejection medications. The cost of post-transplant medications can range from $2,000 to $5,000 per month--and they are as critical to his survival as the transplant itself.

To read more about David or to make a donation to NFT in his honor, visit his web bio.

A Patient's Mission: Recruit Marrow Donors

The following article is from the August 23, 2010 edition of People magazine.


Anh Reiss was headed to the gym in February 2009 when she got the call that changed her life. Test results held unimaginable news: She had a rare blood disorder and perhaps only six months to live. Her only hope, her doctor told her, was a bone marrow transplant that could restore her ravaged immune system. But Reiss learned to her dismay that she had a far slimmer chance than many Americans of finding a suitable donor.


Although there are more than 8 million potential donors on the national Be the Match Registry, Reiss' search yielded only 15,000 of Vietnamese descent--whose genetic makeup was most similar to her own--and none was a match. The mother of two despaired. "The thought of leaving my family was overwhelming," says Reiss, who is herself an ob-gyn. "I cried a lot."


But rather than give up, Reiss took action. She and husband Josh, 42, a lawyer, began crisscrossing the Midwest and showing up at Vietnamese festivals to break down cultural barriers against becoming a donor. Allaying fears, sharing her story and swabbing cheeks herself, she has helped add as many as 10,000 Vietnamese donors to the registry. "There's no telling how many lives she's saved," says Mary Halet, director of recruitment for Be the Match.


Reiss--who came to this country at age 7 as part of the wave of Vietnamese "boat people" in the 1970s--noticed she was feeling weak on a vacation last year. The lifelong runner was shocked to learn she had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a life-threatening disorder that usually strikes older people. "I've never smoked, I eat right. There's a 'Why me?' component in this." More grim news: None of her five siblings was a match; she'll need an unrelated donor.


Rather than dwelling on her bad luck, Reiss is thrilled she may have been able to help people like Matthew Nguyen, 28, a pharmacy student from San Francisco diagnosed with leukemia in 2007. On dialysis, he finally found a match in early 2009, shortly after one of Reiss' drives, and is in remission. "I owe Anh gratitude," he says, "that I can never repay."


Although Reiss has yet to find her own lifesaving match, she controls her condition through medication--she's back to practicing medicine full time and works out four days a week--and treasures every moment with Josh and children Alexandra, 19, and Aaron, 15. "No one is guaranteed more time, "she says. "Whatever time I have, I'm going to make the most of it."


By: Steve Helling in Houston and Jennifer Wren in New York.

Comment Wall

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Marie-Agnes Cederborg Comment by Marie-Agnes Cederborg on September 1, 2009 at 9:34am
Too many people ignore the close inter-relation between kidney diseases and diabetes or hypertension. Worldwide, 246 million people suffer from diabetes and the figure is expected to reach 380 million by 2025. Diabetic nephropathy affects a third of people suffering from diabetes. Sadly, less than half people diagnosed with diabetes undergo a screening test.
Next Word Kidney Day will be held on Thursday 11 March 2010 and will focus on Diabetes, the leading cause of kidney failure.

World Kidney Day offers a crucial, visible opportunity to inform and educate health policy-makers, people who are at highest risk of CKD, and the general public that kidney disease is common, harmful and treatable.

Join our World Kidney Day 2010 group and come to exchange your experience and ideas that could be proposed to World Kidney Day organisers over the world.

The success of World Kidney Day across the world is only possible because of each of you!
 

Members (17)

NFT Sharon Brown Brian Caneda TransplantCafe.com Brian R Barndt Melissa Schaal Debbie & Eric NICOLA Kim Jacques cris United Network for Organ Sharing Tara Maynard Marie-Agnes Cederborg Bobbiejo Winfrey Cristina Cagliari Steve Scott Maxene
 
 
 

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