Rachelle and Andrew met a young man this morning named Daniel and we have decided, in the hopes that he reads this, to dedicate an entire post to him.  The hope is that he can see how much support and love that Matt and Andrew have received and realize that this situation does suck, but support is out there!

Daniel is 20 and was diagnosed with a form of kidney failure when he was born.  The doctors knew that dialysis was in his future and that it was only a matter of time.  The prognosis was that Daniel would probably need dialysis beginning at the age of 12.  His kidneys hung strong until this year, and now, at 20, he is beginning the dialysis process.  Daniel’s dialysis center is in Pottstown, PA at a small hospital.  Like Andrew, he is getting hemodialysis.  This type of dialysis is administered in the hospital via a machine.  Daniel is currently getting treatment a few times a week for 2 1/2 hours at a time.  He just had a fistula (Andrew has one too) placed in his arm and there is a period of time that it needs to develop to be strong enough to be used as an access. 

He has A+ blood, just like Andrew.  He is going through the pre-screening process to be listed on the transplant list.  I think we all know how lucky Andrew was to have Matt ready to donate, but most people on the list wait for a very long time.  3 years is the average. 

Daniel has a very supportive family.  He has a close relationship with his brother and his mom.  He is outgoing, positive and friendly.  He had many many questions for Andrew, and of course, Andrew was willing to answer every single one of them.  He was given Andrew’s email address and the address to the blog so that he could keep in contact.

Daniel,

We hope that you will read this and know that you can contact us at anytime.  We wish you the best of luck and we really want to know what is going on with you.  Please comment, email, or whatever you want to do.  Good luck!