Over the Moon

This is Allie. She is 5 years old. Her mom is one of the business partners here at Over the Moon, Barb. You may have seen the information listing that Barb made for Allie on her cart here. (opens in a new window)

Not long ago Allie started to wet the bed, after being dry at night for a long time. She also started having really puffy eyes in the morning, which her mom thought could be allergies or something. But as it turns out, Allie has a chronic kidney disease known as Focal Segmental Glomulerosclerosis (or FSGS for short). It impairs the ability of her kidneys to filter waste from her body and has left lots of scar tissue that affects both of her kidneys.

This condition will be ongoing, and at this time there is no cure. All that can be done is to help treat the symptoms until the time that she will require dialysis, then a kidney transplant. There is no way to predict when that day will come, it could be years from now, or it could be in a few months. In the meantime, she is on some very harsh medications.

Allie has had to leave school before really even beginning (she started kindergarten this year) because one of the medications that she is on is an immunosupressant that wipes out her immune system. She cannot be exposed to the germs at school as a result. She has also been on Prednisone (a steroid) since the beginning of August, which has caused her (along with her condition) to swell up until her skin is uncomfortably tight and none of her brand-new clothes fit. Allie will also have to be in the hospital for 3 days out of every month for I.V. steroids to help her kidneys function. But she's a great kid, and never complains even when it's really bad.

Allie is one of six children (5 girls, 1 boy) of Barb and her husband, Bob. Barb is a WAHM, as you know, and her husband Bob is a stone mason. He has a good job, but lay-offs can be frequent in his line of work, depending on whether or not there are jobs available. They make ends meet and keep their family afloat usually, but something like this hits a family hard.

Just one of Allie's medications (the immunosuppressant) is $500 for only a 15 day supply. They have insurance, but their insurance has limits to what they will pay, and how many prescriptions a family may have in a year's time. Two other family members also take regular daily medications as well, so the family will end up paying for some of these medications out of pocket. Also, Allie is not allowed to have salt because of her blood pressure. As a result of this, the entire family is changing their eating habits and lifestyle. Eating low sodium and healthy is much more expensive than not, especially for a family with 8 members! For example, canned vegetables are much cheaper than fresh or frozen, but generally are laden with sodium.

Allie and her family need your support, daily thoughts and prayers. She (and they) have a long road ahead that will likely get worse before it gets better. I for one would love to help ease their burden along the way. Thanks for reading about Allie.