A Kidney For Shea

This Christmas season I'm praying and hoping and wishing for miracles for people who are dear to me. People who have stolen my heart with their compassion, kindness, and zest for life. Shea is someone I am hoping gets a Christmas miracle. I'm sharing this today because all it takes is one person. One person to step forward to save a life. 

Shea is someone I have grown up with over the years. Cystinosis brought us together, however we have had many memories and laughs together that are stronger than any disease. He is one of the most caring people I have met in my entire life. He desperately needs a kidney. This will be his third kidney transplant and because of that, finding a donor who matches him is proving incredibly difficult. 

The following is from the Kidney For Shea Facebook page. This is from Shea's dad, Jack.

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My son Shea was born with a rare genetic disorder called Cystinosis and a life expectancy of 8 years. He was connected to pumps 24 hours a day, survived several near death episodes and more than 30 surgeries/ experimental procedures during the first 10 years of his life. He toughed it out, pushed on, and beat the odds. Colleen donated a kidney to him during High School and I donated the second when he was in college. Shea's kidney failed last summer and he has been on dialysis since then. 80,000 people require kidneys today, only 17,500 will get them this year. The wait at MGH (without a donor) is 5 years. Only 31% of the people who stay on dialysis will live, while 81% will survive with a transplant. Donating is a lot easier than you think, We both healed up very quickly, and I deployed to Afghanistan 18 months later. Colleen and I gave our spare kidneys, so we are out, so we now need your help. Please share this page with everyone you know, We have set up for possible transplants at MGH, Johns Hopkins (DC), and Florida Hospital (Orlando). The contact info to look into donating for each site is below. Thank you for helping to make our Christmas miracle come true.

If you are interested in being tested to see if you are a donor for Shea, please contact one of the 3 centers below. Shea's blood type is A+ and his kidney donor must have an A or O blood type.

A good living donor candidate is someone who is healthy, well-informed and makes a voluntary decision to donate one of their kidneys. Living donors must be over 18 and usually under 70 years of age. They must be in good general health, have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 30, a non-smoker, with no evidence of significant high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, heart disease or hepatitis. Living donors can live in any state and it is important to know that all medicals costs are covered by the recipients health insurance. As you might imagine, donating life to another is a remarkable gift that takes a great deal of thought that can only be obtained by being well informed.

Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston, Massachusetts
Donor Intake Coordinator
877-644-2860
Patient: Shea Hammond

Johns Hopkins Hospital – Baltimore Maryland
Donor Intake Coordinator
410-614-9345
Patient: Shea Hammond

Florida Hospital – Orlando, Florida
Donor Intake Coordinator - Gladys Malouf R.N.
407-303-3624
Patient: Shea Hammond