Ihor is 60 years old Ukrainian male. He is my father, my best friend and also a loving husband and grandfather to my children. We can’t imagine our life without him. We learned about his kidney disfunction at stage 4 — diagnosed too late to stop the disease from progressing. He always felt well, was full of energy and never complained of feeling ill. His nephrologist says that the disease must have started a long time ago and was progressing at a mild rate. We can blame his work at a sulfur plant in Ukraine for 10 years or we can blame genetics (his mother suffered from high blood pressure all her life) but we will never officially know what caused this disease, nor will we have an answer to a cure. I was able to bring him from Ukraine to the U.S. hours before the bombing attacks started in Ukraine. I feel blessed from the bottom of my heart to have had the privilege to bring him here. Had he stayed in Ukraine, he would be deprived of proper medical care due to the ongoing war. I immediately began preparing him for the transplant process as well as dialysis. My father’s doctors says he is an excellent candidate for a kidney transplant. There are two types of donors available:
-A deceased donor transplant, which means waiting for years and starting ongoing dialysis which is very difficult to live with.
-A living donor transplant, where a friend or family member can donate. All of his family is in Ukraine now and unfortunately, we don’t have a living donor. I wanted to donate but the doctors do not recommend it seeing as this may be genetic. Knowing that, my dad refuses to accept a kidney from me saying that I might need it for my two kids. My mom is diabetic and doesn’t qualify as a donor and is still in Ukraine. I understand that I have no other options besides starting him on dialysis which will cause significant damage to his body and simply won’t give him the health and quality of life that a living donor transplant would. For these reasons, I’m calling for the help of a living kidney donor who believe in miracles. I understand this may be a long shot with such a tall ask, but I do believe in love and compassion be it from family or someone special that we get blessed to meet. It’s also very challenging for my father to personally ask others for help since his English is very poor. I will answer any and all the questions to those who express interest in helping. Please feel free to contact me or UI Health Transplant Center directly at 312.996.6771. My dad has always been my hero and I’ll do anything to make him feel that way till the last day I possibly can. Thank you,
Oksana Taratula
