Mel Needs A Kidney

This is my friend, Melissa Tuff, who is seeking a kidney donor. She is also an advocate for the NKF who fights for all us kidney patients. Please like and share her post. If you can please get tested for Mel.

Mel's Kidney Page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MelNeedsAKidney/

To show you what kind of advocate she really is, here is a letter that she wrote to Alan Grayson:

Letter from Melissa Tuff to Alan Grayson

James Myers

Crown Point, IN

Oct 16, 2016 — "Alan Grayson I would like to implore you to read over and sign on to show your support for H.R. 6139 the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2016. As an 11 year kidney recipient who is now among the 120,000+ waiting on another organ I have struggled many times over the years with lapses in prescription coverage which have caused damage to my transplant when I have had to make my immunosuppressive meds stretch by taking reduced doses just to try and prevent fully rejecting my kidney during the times in which I was denied coverage by my employers because I would "make their premiums too high" or when Medicare and Medicaid were not options because my 36 months of coverage post-transplant had been exhausted. I lost my house, my car, and essentially have went bankrupt to maintain my gift of life for the past 11 years and in all honesty if it meant losing everything to keep my kidney versus going back on dialysis, I would live in a cardboard box under a bridge any day of the week! This gift has been such an incredible blessing but the stress of continued accessibility to my lifeline or medications can be quite daunting which is why so many patients have been reluctant to even get a transplant. So please, for one moment step outside of your experience and put yourself in our (transplant recipients) shoes. Consider the agony of fighting so hard to get your life back only to constantly worry if you can afford to keep it. In conclusion I would just like to say thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this, and I sincerely hope that you will find it in your heart to support this act and encourage your colleagues to do the same. God bless.

Melissa Tuff, Cape Coral
Florida State Representative for the National Kidney Foundation"