An Open Letter to Save My Life

Joshua Tannen

(636) 484-2496 (Cell)

I Need Your Help:

I am Josh Tannen and I need a kidney.  I am in renal failure due to the toxicity of certain medicines that I was prescribed.  I need an angel to step forward to save my life by volunteering to give me a kidney (blood type O).  Tall order, I know.  It's a big ask.  So I'm not asking.  But I am asking for your help in another way.  There's something else that you can do to help me (and others with a similar need), even if you're not a donor: I need you to spread the word, and I'll show you how to do that in this post.  You could help me immensley simply by getting he word out about my need for a kidney.

I am told that the more people who know of my need, the better my chance is of reaching a person willing to be an altruistic donor.  So, now it's all about getting the word out.  That's where you come in.

Who Am I?

I am 29 years old and I reside in Phoenix.  The kidneys that I was born with were perfectly good, but heavy doses of Motrin, prescribed by a well-meaning pediatrician when I was very young, burned those kidneys out causing them to fail.

Luckily my mother was able to donate one of her kidneys to me about fifteen years ago.  Unfortunately, due to some of the anti-rejection medicines that I was given, her donated kidney also failed after about 10 years.  For the past five years, I have been on dialysis every night for 11 hours per night.  That is not a long-term solution.  5,000 people die each year in the U.S. waiting for a kidney.  I don't want to be one of them.

How to Help Me:

   
Give me 15 minutes (or more) and use that time to tell the world about this website (Kidney4Josh.com).

• Email: Send this website to your friends (all of them) by email.
• Facebook: Post a small note on Facebook with a link to this website (icon above).
• LinkedIn: Post a small note on LinkedIn with a link to this website (icon above).
• Other Social Media Sites: Post a small note with a link to this website (icons below). 

And ask your contacts, readers, friends and acquaintances to do the same (to give this webpage exponential distribution).  

Why this is So Serious - My Options: 

Most people have two well-functioning kidneys but can lead a full and equally healthy life with just one kidney.  So, medically I now have only two options to continue living:

• dialysis (life expectancy about 5 years)
  
• transplant (a new lease on life)

According to USRDS data, Kidney transplant recipients fare far better than dialysis patients. I need those additional years in order to continue helping others.

Also, if a willing donor is not an exact match, through an arrangement called "Paired Kidney Donation" (kidney swapping) a donor who is not a match for me might be a match for someone else and I would be eligible to receive that person's donor's kidney that would be a match for me.  

If You'd Like More Information:

For more information, see Columbia University Medical Center's "Becoming a Kidney Donor."  See also Mayo Clinic video.

Lloyd E. Ratner, MD New York Presbyterian-Columbia

To Speak with Someone Confidentially:

If you'd like to speak with someone confidentially (without disclosing your inquiry to me), please mention my name (Josh Tannen) when you call the Mayo Clinic at (480) 342-1010, and ask for a kidney transplant coordinator.  Your questions will be answered by a qualified person who is familiar with my case.

Speaking with a Mayo Clinic staff member is much better than speaking with me.  They know far more than I do and you will get better information from them than from me.  So please, feel free to contact the Mayo Clinic.

Keep in mind that a confidential phone call to the Mayo Clinic does not come with any obligations to proceed further.
______________
Note: It is illegal under Federal law to exchange money for a kidney. No such request can be granted any consideration. 

I Need a Kidney - My Dire Situation in My Own Words

My name is Josh.  I desperately need a kidney.

And I desperately need an angel with type O blood (or any blood type for a paired exchange with someone who has a type O donor but needs your type) willing to donate his/her kidney so that I may live.

I am 29 years old and I reside in Phoenix.  The kidneys that I was born with were perfectly good, but heavy doses of Motrin, prescribed by a well-meaning pediatrician when I was very young, burned those kidneys out causing them to fail.

Luckily my mother was able to donate one of her kidneys to me about fifteen years ago.  Unfortunately, due to some of the anti-rejection medicines that I was given, her donated kidney also failed after about 10 years.  For the past five years, I have been on dialysis every night for 11 hours per night.  That is not a long-term solution.

 My mother Karen Tannen and Me

Background:

When I was very young, an orthopedic doctor diagnosed me with a leg problem and, unfortunately prescribed very high doses of liquid Motrin.  Motrin in high doses can be toxic to kidneys.  And it was in my case.  It basically burned out my kidneys through no fault of my own.

I began getting very sick during 5th grade.  I was in renal failure at age 11.  No child should have to experience that.

Kidney failure has prevented me from attending school and, as a result, I had to be home schooled.  My body was bloated and swollen all over.  I had high blood pressure, and I became essentially bound to a recliner in our living room.  I was in and out of hospitals frequently.  I could not attend a normal school.

By middle school, I was put on peritoneal dialysis.  Each day, my mother would set up my dialysis  machine and connect and disconnect me since I was too young to do it myself.

Eventually it became clear that, in order to save my life, I needed a kidney transplant.  Fortunately my mother was a sufficiently close match and, on June 16, 2002. my mother once again gave me the gift of life (the first time was when she brought me into this world).

I made a nice recovery and I was dialysis-free living a relatively normal life for close to 10 years.  I was even able to hold down a job at a grocery store for a while.  But, in the Spring of 2011, I began  having stomach issues and I started losing a lot of weight.  I lost about 20 pounds. By May 2011 I was taken to a local hospital emergency room.  After blood transfusions, emergency bone marrow biopsy and continued weakness, doctors diagnosed that my transplanted kidney that my mother donated to me had failed.

That was followed by an extended period of hospital visits, more transfusions and many more doctors at various hospital weighing in with their diagnosis.  The anti-rejection medications that I was prescribed were singled out as the likely cause of the failed transplanted kidney that I received from my mother.

In late October 2011 I began having trouble breathing.  That night I went to a hospital emergency room where it was determined that my lungs were filling with fluid and that my blood oxygen level was extremely low.

I underwent an emergency intubation under anesthesia to drain the fluid.  I came close to death that night.  While I was unconscious under anesthesia, doctors in the ICU started me on hemodialysis.  I remained in the hospital for about a week followed by daily sessions in a specialized hemodialysis center for several months.  The experience was extraordinarily taxing, causing me to pass out once.  It also gave me headaches and muscle cramps.

In January 2012, I began peritoneal dialysis which can be done at home.  Nevertheless, I still had to be hospitalized twice thereafter due to dehydration, extremely low blood pressure and elevated potassium levels in my blood.

I have been waiting ever since for someone to save me from this very difficult existence by donating a kidney.

Currently I am connected to a dialysis machine for 11 hours each night.  I have been waiting for a kidney donor to come forward for 5-1/2 years.

My mom and I have gone through a lot.  I just want a chance to have a normal life.

About 5,000 people in the U.S. die each year because they could not find a kidney donor.  I want to live.

Please watch these videos by a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and others about their experience as a donor or a recipient.

Here are some contacts points in case you or someone you know might be interested in considering the possibility of saving my life.

(480) 342-1010 - Mayo Clinic where I am registered
(636) 484-2496 - Me, Joshua Tannen
(850) 557-3522 - My mother, Karen Tannen