Giving the Gift of Life: Repair Rusty's Kidney

05/25/2026

Hello 👋

Day 3 of Rusty being home and he is doing so well. He completed his last antibiotic dose today.

His strength is coming back, his personality for sure, and most importantly no fever, no chills, no coughing!

Unfortunately the poor guy has had to help us, ive come down with a illness but thats what we do. We lift each other up!

I wanted to share what a day in the life of Rusty looks like.

Every night he prepares his dialysis machine and solution bags. His machine takes ~40 minutes to setup, the whole process about 60 minutes.

The dialysis machine speaks thru every step, and you cannot skip any. There are a lot to go thru!

He is on 3 regular size bags + 1 mini per night, running about 9 hours. Each bag contains a dextrose solution that cleans the toxins out of his blood, acting as a kidney.

If he continues to do well where he is at, until he receives a kidney donation, all will be fine. If his body starts to need more dialysis, he will lilely go onto a mid-day run. We don't want to think about that yet.

Lastly, we are fortunate to be able to travel to our camper and live half the summer there. But, our schedule is determined by his dialysis supplies delivery every month and his twice per month kidney center appts.

It's coordination, patience and acceptance all wrapped up! We live for today and dream of tomorrow ❤️

05/23/2026

Hello!

This is a disappointing update but I want to be transparent on the highs and lows of Rusty Garrison 's health while we wait for the gift of life, a kidney donation.

Tuesday Rusty woke up dry-heaving and by lunch time he was shaking very hard. It took some convincing that something wasn't right, he's pretty head strong on not running to the ER. I felt his head, it was burning.

Because we were at our camper we went to Southwest Hospital in Platteville, 3 hrs from home. His temperature was 102, WBC critically high.

The hospital did not have the ability to process dialysis, nor did they have supplies to properly pull labs from his catheter.

With his peritoneal dialysis nurse on the phone, the nurse at the hospital and me assisting (yes, I became a nurse assistant!) they pulled labs and no initial signs of peritoneal infection presented.

The decision now was to transfer by ambulance to Dubuque, Iowa or Madison. WI. We politely advised we prefer to transfer him to our hospital. At this point, it was still unknown what was wrong.

Both hospital teams spoke and coordinated a Transition of Care, meaning I was allowed to drive him to our hospital only after he completed a initial IV Antibiotic therapy to keep him safe during the transport.

I immediately went back to the camper, packed, loaded our items and cats. 4 hours later we arrived at our hospital shortly after midnight. The ride was stressful, abouy 90 minutes from the hospital his fever spiked and I drove as fast as I could, but safely.

Once at the hospital, he went thru more tests. His fever was 102.5 and medicine was not working. They had to cool his body down, packing ice packs around the sides of him and I filled rubber gloves with cold water and laid on his chest. With the room like a refrigerator and patience, his temperature went down to 97.5.YES!

Test results back, he had Pneumonia. He was admitted, arriving in his room after 4AM. 3 days worth of IV antibiotics, fluids and other medicine, he's now DISCHARGED!!!

Being on dialysis we've learned complicates access to healthcare, but with perseverance and kind doctors willing to help, Rusty received the right care at the best place. We cant thank Southwest Hospital enough for working with us.

All in all, God prevailed. We gave it to God and asked foe guidance. 🙏

Rusty's next stop in this journey to receiving a kidney is to potentially have a mid-day dialysis treatment added. His body and dialysis are not working as well as they have in the past 2 years, everyday it becomes more urgent to receive a kidney transplant.

Please keep sending good vibes, we appreciate it!!!!

04/27/2026

Hello 👋! Hope everyone is well. We've had an exciting and busy few weeks, especially this last one!

What's exciting:
We moved into our new 5th wheel at our seasonal campsite at Lake Joy. It certainly made for a long, tiring but rewarding week.

We decided to grow into a 5th wheel because last season in our travel trailer, Rusty's dialysis equipment was staged in the kitchen, his tube extended down the hallway to the bedroom. It just didn't feel sanitary and never gave him a break from being reminded he is on dialysis.

While Rusty has a mix of emotions when I share personal information, he eventually understands why I do 😊 So here goes!

Compared to last year, setting up our seasonal site at this time, Rusty has noticeably declined in his health. He had much difficulty with energy, breathing, dizziness, needing frequent breaks, and all around not being able to do physical work.

It broke his heart, frustrated him and upset us both. On the positive side, I was able to make up for what he couldnt do, and I was happy to! For the first time in years I was able to do physical labor. I may have been sore and needed to take my medicine nightly, but I did it! My 6th and 7th spine surgeries in December continue to amaze me!

While it's too early to share more details, we have had a few individuals reach out for more information on donating a kidney. It is so difficult to express our gratitude, I think the best way to describe is Rusty goes speechless, I pray immediately with him, and I tell him how people love him and want to help.

Please keep praying, advocating and sharing Rusty's story to help him. His dialysis is getting harder on his body, he is trying his best but I know he is struggling. I can see it in his eyes, my heart aches for him but no matter what we stay positive and believe in God's way!

Cant wait for our next trip to camper, I get to do my outside decor 😄😆 and Rusty can enjoy his outside kitchen. He loves grilling!

04/23/2026

Hello 👋! This information is directly from Rusty Garrison 's transplant center!

Becoming a living kidney donor significantly advances Rusty on the transplant wait list. He can go from years, to as little as a few MONTHS! That's incredible to believe.

04/22/2026

We've reached 125 followers for our page and 1 more view on his National Kidney Foundation page to reach 700 views.

Thank you to all who are invested to advocate, support and drive awareness for living kidney donor opportunities.

More to come soon, we've been a little busy this week but for good reasons. Rusty is hanging in there, I'm forcing him to not push it!

04/13/2026

April is National Organ Donation month!

The statistics tell the story of just how critical it is for patients who are waiting, to receive a life saving organ donation.

04/13/2026

Hello 👋!

Hope all are well. I wanted to share an update. Rusty is still doing well, but, his dialysis program has increased to 3.5 bags per night, instead of two. The increase is due to him failing two tests, in a row, for proving the dialysis is adequately supplementing real kidneys.

What this means:
-He is .5 bags away from being maxed out on allowable dialysis bags for at home dialysis
-He is carrying ~10 lbs of fluid in him all day (on purpose)
-His energy level fluctuates and he tries his best to do what he can everyday ❤️
-2 large drain bags every night of his fluid 😕
-If he is forced off home dialysis, he will have a fistula in his arm and back to the dialysis center
-His monthly dialysis solution bag delivery is now 40
-He generates 2 bags of garbage per day with all of the supplies

Today he opened up about how this makes him feel, and it compelled me to tell his update.

I know so many people love him, care for him, amd want to see him live a long life.

Please have faith with us, a person will come forward to say "Yes! I want to donate one of my kidneys to save your life".

Rusty has been on the national transplant list for 2 years, the average wait time is up to 6 yrs. He will prevail, he must!

Here are pictures that depict his home dialysis, but are NOT actual pictures of him or our home

03/31/2026

Another informational opportunity for living kidney donation ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Join us this Wednesday, April 1 at 4:00 ET for the first session of our FREE conversation series: Living Kidney Donation Explained. You'll hear real stories about living kidney donation and get your questions answered by people who have experienced the process firsthand. Learn what it takes to donat...

03/31/2026

Sharing forward to advocate for my dear husband Rusty Garrison ❤️ Rusty's dialysis program has increased over the past few weeks and may remain at this new level for, we hope, until he receives a kidney transplant.

He was a high risk stage 5 kidney failure patient, but he still must wait 3 to 5 yrs on average on the transplant list. He's even at higher risk today due to the new dialysis program. High risk means living is highly depending on a transplant 😕

If he receives the altruistic gift from a living donor, his timeline can be reduced to MONTHS. That is so amazing, we pray pray pray everyday!

Rusty is in critical need of a donor, and this information below helps individuals who are interested to donate, but are not a direct match to Eusty, can elect to be part of the "Voucher Program"

Join us April 8 (4:30–6 PM) for a FREE virtual webinar on Paired Exchange & Altruistic Living Donation. Learn how you can save lives—even if you’re not a direct match—and connect with others in the living donation community. 📍 Online | 🎟 Free 📩 Register to receive the link: https://...