My brother Don has been “the Ultimate Caregiver” and now needs help himself.

Now 60, nearly blind from Diabetic retinopathy, and living alone, he has been kept alive by 3 hour long dialysis treatments 3 days a week since January 2008 that leave him exhausted. He has worked hard to change his diet significantly from what before dialysis was considered healthy and appropriate for Diabetic patients.

Still he is constantly reaching out to friends, relatives and now co-patients at his Dialysis Center, to provide whatever help he can. He is blessed with a detailed and inquisitive mind which he often applies to helping others with their medical challenges as well as other situations.

He remains optimistic about a future with restored health and vision and a return to the independent lifestyle he once enjoyed. He researches places such as the XCell Center in Germany and Beike Biotechnology in China, hoping for continued advances in stem cell treatments and optic nerve regeneration for his life after a kidney transplant. He loves attending live theater and musical performances despite the difficulty with his vision. He enjoys many forms of music, from Andre Rieu to the Irish tenors to Mariachi bands and misses the opportunity to travel. When healthy, he also loved tennis and boating.

Don put his own life on hold and moved across the country, back in with my Mom primarily to assist her as age, Diabetes and Alzheimer’s caught up with her and sent her into a spiral of failing health. Despite his own challenges, he monitored and cared for her daily, overseeing insulin injections and multiple prescriptions for blood pressure, arterial fib, depression and other symptoms. He scheduled and coordinated an endless number of Doctor and specialist visits as well as hospital and Rehab Center stays subsequent to Knee replacement surgery. Doctors were continually amazed how he could recite her medical history, current and past prescriptions and be such an active partner in her health care.

By also keeping a close network with Mom’s friends and relatives, he lovingly coaxed her into activities she would not have done on her own. He initiated and pulled off a surprise 80th birthday party which will forever bring us wonderful memories. There is no doubt that he maximized her joy and experiences right up to the time we lost her.

Prior to his need for dialysis, he had made remarkable progress in his own health, bringing both his blood sugar and blood pressure back into acceptable ranges by diet, long walks, medication and monitoring.

While I am personally unable to help him with a transplant, and presently live several hundred miles from him, I would dearly love to help him return to a more independent and normal lifestyle free of dialysis, continuing to improve his overall health so he can enjoy the rest of his life.

We are immensely grateful to Don’s Transplant team and staff at Suburban Dialysis for the care being provided and to those responsible for this web site for giving us hope. Don can receive a kidney from someone who is either "A" or "O" Blood type.

Please feel free to contact me at lkncareys@aol.com or 704-281-6072 if I can answer any questions.

There is also information from Don, his family and friends at www.caringbridge.org (Enter “doncarey”).

If you are unable to help, we appreciate your prayers that we would find a suitable donor.

Thank you!
Mike Carey

You may also contact Don's Transplant Coordinator at the following numbers:

Marcia J. Krzywicki, ANP-C
Kidney Transplant Coordinator
Surgical Associates of Western NY, PC

550 Orchard Park Rd A103
West Seneca NY 14224
Tel: 677-5500 • Fax: 677-5513