Family, friends helping to fund kidney transplant for Gary Hebert

Family, friends, and co-workers in the Acadiana community have always rallied around each other in times of need.
Whether it has been for a neighbor fighting cancer or a family who lost their house in a fire, those in the community have long held fundraising events like raffles, dinners and silent auctions to help their neighbors through difficult times.
Now, through a growing trend called crowd-funding, they are taking these efforts online. Family, friends, and co-workers of Gary Hebert of Abbeville have set up a crowd-funding page on the popular crowdfunding website, GiveForward.com. More than one million people have contributed over $100 million on GiveForward with 99 cents out of every dollar going directly to the people in need.
So far the family, friends, and co-workers of Gary Hebert have raised $8,600 for expenses related to his upcoming kidney transplant since the campaign launched in April.
In October of 2013, after being sick for several weeks and being treated unsuccessfully by several doctors, Gary's condition continued to get worse. He was finally brought to the emergency room and after running several test, it was determined that something had shut down his kidneys. His lab results were so bad that the emergency room doctor could not believe that he had been called out for someone who had died.
The doctor was told that he was very ill but very much alive. He became known by all the hospital staff as the man who should have died. He was immediately put into surgery to have a shunt put in to start dialysis. Two days later he had a catheter put in his chest to continue dialysis in hopes that his kidney function would return. By the end of the week, he was walking around and was ready to go home.
It was definitely another devastating event for Gary, but whatever caused his kidney failure was not going to keep him down. He soon returned to work but continues to receive dialysis three days a week.
In November, he had another surgery to put a fistula in his arm so he could continue to receive dialysis. After several months of
dialysis and numerous test, it was determined that his kidney function would not return.
In February, he was sent to Ochsner Multi-Organ Transplant Institute in New Orleans to be evaluated and placed on the transplant list. As of May, he was officially placed on the transplant list for a donor. The process of finding a living donor also began. Several family and friends have come forward to be tested as a living donor. There have been a few disappointments along the way for those who have been tested as living donors and were not a match. “But we remain hopeful that the right donor will be found. Words cannot express how grateful and blessed we feel for the continued support from so many people,” the Hebert family wrote.
As a Chevron employee, he has medical insurance, for which the family is thankful, but even the best insurance doesn't cover the huge costs this family has and will incur, not least of which is the loss of work-time for his treatments, hospitalization and recovery.
A lifetime of follow-up care and anti-rejection medication are essential to his recovery and to the function of his new kidney. Also, there are travel and lodging expenses, not only for Gary, but for the family, the caregivers, the donor and the donor's family.
To support Gary, visit http://gfwd.at/1eyq5R0 or go to www.GiveForward.com and search for Gary Hebert Kidney Transplant Fund.
You can also keep up with his progress and leave notes of support and prayers on the website. If you or someone you know is interested in being a living donor for Gary, you can contact one of the team members via the website above.
“Help Gary get a kidney!”
The National Kidney Foundation reports that as of September 8, 2014:
There are currently 123,175 people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, 101,170 await kidney transplants.
In 2013, 16,896 kidney transplants took place in the U.S. Of these, 11,163 kidney transplants came from deceased donors and 5,733 came from living donors.
To learn more about being an organ donor, you can find information by visiting these websites:
http://www.ochsner.org/services/multi_organ_transplant
http://donatelife.net
http://www.organdonor.gov

About GiveForward
GiveForward.com is one of the world’s leading online fundraising websites and the easiest way to raise money for a loved one in need. It is the #1 platform to start a medical fundraiser with 99 cents of every dollar going directly to the people who need it. It is the only online fundraising site with fundraising coaches who provide fundraising ideas and guidance on how to raise money online.