Kruzn for a Kure Foundation

10/12/2026

Day 12: Vessel Age—- the reason I have gray hair 😬🫠

This will be several part series. The vessels are an entire research in itself

10/11/2026

Day 10 & 11: DISOT

These two go hand and hand together!

Immune system and kidney failure

We first learned that Kruz had low “t-cells” and essentially that means immune fighting cells. We knew he needed a bone marrow transplant but the traditional way was entirely too risky. We knew he would eventually need a kidney transplant too.

The issue was if you did a stem cell (or bone marrow) transplant AFTER a kidney transplant the chemo used to open up your marrow would harm the newly transplanted kidney.

So what do you do?

Kruz waited 2 years on dialysis for a plan.

We had just started research and were simply trying to understand the disease much less how to treat the disease.

Then comes along Dr. Alice Bertaina. A new hire to Stanford in 2017 from Italy. She was the first person who threw out the idea on a conference call to do her style of stem cell transplant BEFORE a kidney transplant and the immune system would recognize the kidney like it’s supposed to be there using parents as donors.

This eliminated 3 things:

- the stress of finding a donor
- the risk for graft vs host disease
- the need for immune suppression after the kidney transplant

It was a bold idea. It was one of those that I’m sure everyone went quiet on the conference call…

Never been done before.

Dr. Alice was the first person who looked me in the eyes and said “I can help your kids I just need you to trust me”—-

She said it with confidence. I had only experienced doctors talk to us with a little uncertainty, a little hold back and a lot of “what if’s”

She didn’t.

The type of transplant she does is a T cell depleted transplant. She just needs a parent or a sibling to be a half match and her lab genetically modifies the stem cells for the transplant.

Kyle and I signed those papers because we believed in her. We believed this came because of answered prayers. We never doubted this wasn’t apart of His plan.

Before the transplant had a name, Kruz and Paizlee pioneered the Dual Immune Solid Organ Transplant… now known as DISOT and helping kids all over the world who battle kidney, auto immune and rare diseases where a traditional transplant wouldn’t give them the quality of life they needed long term.

I donated stem cells to Kruz January 2019, followed by a kidney in July 2019 after he fully engrafted my cells. Kyle donated stem cells to Paizlee in August 2019 and then donated a kidney June 2020. (Covid put a delay in there)

Fun facts you may not know: They fully engrafted our cells, meaning they changed to our blood type, got our allergies and our skin type.

- Kruz was allergic to Augmentin after transplant like me.

- Paizlee’s skin changed from fair to dark completed like Kyle.

10/10/2026

Day 9: Dialysis

Whew! I think sometimes as parents we try to block some stuff out, and this is one of those times.

Kruz stayed on peritoneal dialysis for over two years waiting on the best plan for him. That means nightly dialysis, picking the dialysis strength, watching blood pressures and constant monitoring…

Paizlee stayed on hemo dialysis since her kidneys failed after stem cell transplant. She was still so immune compromised that peritoneal dialysis was too risky! (Kruz’s kidneys failed way before we had a plan for stem cell transplants)

I drove Paizlee to Children’s 3 days a week for months to receive hemo dialysis until it was time for her kidney transplant.

The things that you will never forget with dialysis on a child…

Pulling fluid too fast, the sickness, the weakness, the sunken in eyes…. and the weekly shots 🥺

Just keeping them as healthy as possibly to one day receive a kidney, and in our case, a stem cell transplant that needed to come first.

10/09/2026

SAVE THE DATE FOR OCTOBER 31st 🎃

🚨 **EVENT POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER!** 🚨

Hurricane Isaias won't stop us from giving back! ❤️

Due to the forecasted weather, we've made the decision to RESCHEDULE our Lincoln Embrace for Good Drive Event to Saturday, October 31st!

📅 NEW DATE: Saturday, October 31, 2026
⏰ TIME: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
📍 LOCATION: Redemption Shoals – 503 S. Wilson Dam Rd., Muscle Shoals, AL
❤️ BENEFITING: Kruzn for a Kure Foundation

🚘 DRIVE FOR A CAUSE! For every qualifying Lincoln test drive completed, Lincoln Motor Company will donate $50 to Kruz'n for a Kure Foundation, up to $7,500!

That's right — just a few minutes behind the wheel can make a BIG difference for an incredible cause!

We appreciate everyone's understanding and hope you'll join us on our NEW date!

📣 Help us spread the word! Share this post, tag your friends, and make plans to come out on October 31st to help us drive change in our community!

10/09/2026

Tomorrow’s Drive Event is RESCHEDULED due to storm! ⛈️ help us get this out by dropping a 🚘 emoji if you see this! ⬇️

10/09/2026

Kruz said on his journey he got a kidney transplant and got a lot of shots and that’s basically all 🤭🫠😑😆

We’re so glad Kruz and Paizlee don’t remember a lot of the real hard things, but who’s been around long enough to know otherwise that wasn’t “basically all” 🙋🏻‍♀️😆

10/07/2026

Day 7: How did we find out?

I encourage any family going through the unknown right now, waiting on an answer… just keep trying to unlock clues. Don’t settle with the “I don’t know”- keep digging. The answer may be hard, but being proactive is sometimes the one thing that can make a big difference.

10/06/2026

Day 6: How tall are Kruz and Paizlee?

From social media, it’s hard to tell a drastic difference but Kruz and Paizlee are little people.

They are both right at 3 ft tall with Paizlee being a few inches taller. They are 13 and 11 years old.

We will talk more about this but they are both fully proportioned little people. Their type of dwarfism is SED.

One day she will know they make accommodations for cars too! 🫶🏼

10/06/2026

This is the best 😂 See you Saturday!!!