Help Derek Receive His Kidney

04/11/2024

One week down..

It sure has been a busy week. We are home from the hospital, and sleep deprived. Currently, we have daily appointments at Mayo Clinic. Aside from the early mornings, we have come to enjoy these appointments. Little by little, Derek’s kidney function improves, and we take every win that comes our way! We were told today that he is still in stage 5 kidney failure. He still has to adhere to a kidney diet for now.

This week was full of education! Our first education session started 12:30am, just hours after his surgery! Needless to say, we only got a couple of hours of broken sleep that night(and every night since!) We learned about his immunosuppressant medications and how the next 30 days are when his immune system is suppressed the most. When we make it to 6 months out, some things will ease up a little bit but this first year he has to be extra, extra careful.

Today Derek had his neck catheter removed! His neck catheter was in since December. It’s how Derek received his hemodialysis while his arm fistula was growing. We are beyond grateful that Derek did not require dialysis after his surgery. The doctors said his neck catheter was stubborn coming out, but Derek did great!

Again, we want to thank everyone that has donated to Derek’s gofundme. With out the love and support of our family and friends he would still be waiting for his kidney.

We thank God every day for this miracle. We pray for his donor and their family daily. We pray that Derek’s kidney remains healthy. This year has definitely been hard, but our faith has been our constant.

Overall, the doctors are impressed with his progress, and we are too!

With love,

Erin and Derek

04/04/2024

Update: Derek made it out of surgery safe and sound! His surgeon said he did very well! He is in a good deal of pain, understandably. He has been in good spirits. He had an ultrasound after surgery and we were told his kidney looks “beautiful!”

Please continue to pray for Derek, as this is just the beginning of another long road to recovery. We are beyond grateful and blessed. Please also pray for his donor, our hero ❤️

04/03/2024

Hi everyone,

We are beyond excited to announce Derek was called for his kidney this morning!!!!!! We are so thankful to God!

Around 5:30 this morning Mayo Clinic called to offer Derek a kidney. We are still in shock. Derek has said all morning “this feels like a dream.” He has already gone through a number of tests before they wheeled him back for surgery.

It has definitely been an emotional morning. We are so lucky to have so many amazing people in our corner. Please continue to pray for Derek. Please also pray for the selfless person that gave up their kidney to save my Derek ❤️

10/23/2023

Derek and I want to thank everyone that has shown such love and support to us! Your prayers and well wishes mean everything to us! We keep you guys in our prayers. We will never forget your kindness 🥰

Quite a few people have been questioning why Derek needs this money. I hope this helps clear things up. Mayo Clinic requires him to have that amount of money in a separate account. That money is for the portion of the surgery his insurance will not cover, along with the cost of his anti-rejection prescriptions for just two months.

The money we are fund raising doesn’t even include the thousands of dollars Derek owes the hospitals, both in Pennsylvania and Florida (about $11,000) Davita (about $8,000), Baxter (about $6,000), his doctors and his monthly prescriptions (about $300 a month)

Thank you again to everyone who has donated, and everyone who has been in our corner through this process. We couldn’t have done it without you! ❤️

09/27/2023

Hey guys!

I created this page to keep all of our friends and family in the loop with Derek's health.

As you may have seen, we are in the stage of fund raising for Derek to become "active" on the transplant list. Currently, he is accepted on the transplant list at Mayo Clinic, but he is "inactive" meaning if we don't come up with the money that Mayo is requiring, he will NOT receive an organ. Right now, we find ourselves drowning in medical bills, but our priority is to get him in an “active” status.

We both want to thank all of you. We are absolutely speechless with the amount of love, support and prayers we have received! We also want to thank everyone who has shared our page. We thank God for having such amazing people in our corner. This is a long and sometimes lonely road we found ourselves on, and honestly we couldn't have made it this far without all of you. We pray for the day Derek gets the call to come in for his kidney transplant, and I get to notify all of you. Until then, please know how much you all mean to us.

With love,
Erin and Derek

Hi, my name is Erin, and I’m raising money for my boyfriend Derek. Derek is in… Erin Ralston needs your support for Please Help Derek Get His Kidney