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Fundraiser to help Upperco liver transplant recipient Kailah Smith-Huntington |
| Upperco, Md., Nov. 2, 2009 – Kailah Smith-Huntington is grateful to be alive. She received a liver transplant in January but continues to face expenses. Volunteers are planning fundraisers to assist with her transplant-related costs. |
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| Publish Date: 06:25PM 11/03/09 |
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Upperco, Md., Nov. 2, 2009 – Kailah Smith-Huntington is grateful to be alive. She received a liver transplant in January but continues to face expenses. Volunteers are planning fundraisers to assist with her transplant-related costs.
Smith-Huntington, 18, first became ill in November 2008. After many weeks of tests, doctors’ appointments and hospitalizations, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver. She was added to the transplant waiting list in December 2008. She spent Christmas morning in the hospital but was able to go home that afternoon.
In January, she was hospitalized again, this time in the pediatric intensive care unit. Her kidneys failed, and she was placed on 24-hour dialysis. Because she was in extreme pain, doctors placed her in a coma for a week to wait for her liver transplant, which she received January 30. The weeks of dialysis and kidney failure resulted in a diagnosis of stage 2 kidney disease, but she was discharged at the end of February.
A liver transplant costs approximately $500,000. Even with health insurance, Smith-Huntington’s family faces significant medical expenses. She will require a lifetime of follow-up care and daily anti-rejection medications, which could cost as much as $5,000 a month. The medications are as essential to her survival as the transplant itself.
Additionally, Smith-Huntington’s health problems caused hearing loss in both ears. She needs hearing aids, adding to the family’s financial strain.
To help offset these expenses, Smith-Huntington turned to the National Foundation for Transplants for assistance. NFT is a nonprofit organization that helps patients raise funds to pay for transplant-related expenses.
“It is incredibly difficult to see families struggle with these enormous expenses,” said Lauren Wilmer, NFT fundraising consultant. “Many people don’t realize the ongoing costs transplant patients face for the rest of their lives, or the potential complications patients may face as a result of these critical medications. Kailah has faced so many obstacles, and NFT is working to help her family overcome the financial burdens.”
Volunteers are planning a roller skating fundraiser Saturday, Nov. 14 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Sportsmans Hall, 15500 Hanover Pike. Admission is $7.50, plus $3 for skate rental. Spectators may attend for $5. Refreshments will be available for purchase, and the event will include a raffle.
For more information, please call Tish at 410-239-3697.
To make a tax-deductible donation in honor of Smith-Huntington, please send a contribution to the NFT Maryland Liver Fund, 5350 Poplar Ave., Suite 430, Memphis, TN 38119. Please be sure to write “in honor of Kailah Smith-Huntington” on the memo line. Secure donations also can be made online at www.transplants.org. Donors should click on “Patients We Help” to locate Smith-Huntington.
About NFT
NFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Memphis, Tenn. that has been helping transplant patients overcome financial obstacles since 1983. NFT provides fundraising expertise and advocacy to transplant patients by organizing fundraising campaigns in the patients’ own communities. NFT’s fundraising campaigns have generated nearly $56 million to assist patients.
NFT assists more than 1,000 transplant candidates and recipients nationwide. For more information about NFT, please call 800-489-3863 or visit www.transplants.org.
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