Ambassador Program
The KAIGAN Foundation established a "KAIGAN AMBASSADOR PROGRAM" in 2021.
KAIGAN AMBASSADOR - 2023-2024
Eric Wagner
Adult Ambassador
In 2014 I was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease call membranous nephropathy. It cause your body to lose large amounts of protein into your urine causing kidney damage and extreme fatigue. The next 4 years Lindsay and I sought treatment throughout the country. We spoke with the head of the nephrology department at Columbia university, University of Penn, Lehigh Valley, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. Unfortunately I didn’t respond to any treatment and ultimately the decision was made that a kidney transplant was inevitable. In 2018 my kindness function decreased to a point that I need dialysis to survive. My family took turns driving me to and from the clinic for treatments 3 times a week, 5 hours per session, for almost a year. Finding a door was difficult as no-one in my family was the right match. They deemed Lindsay healthy enough to donate so we signed up for a program call “Paired Donation.” In September of 2019 we got the call that they had found a match and were set for a transplant in October. Lindsay’s kidney went to a recipient in New Jersey, That pairs kidney went to a recipient in Texas and their kidney came to me. In the year and a half since my opertation I thankfully haven’t had any issue and thing seem to be functioning properly. Im thankful every day for the selfless action of my wife because without her sacrifice I may still be on dialysis.
Michael Demusz
Pediatric Ambassador
PLEASE WELCOME OUR KAIGAN FEST 2022 "KAIGAN AMBASSADOR-KAPTAIN KAIGAN RILEY SCHMIDT". Monica (Riley's mother) shares their story........
Riley is currently 12 but will be 13 on the 25th of this month. We live in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. Riley was born with end stage renal disease. He was on dialysis from 6 months old to 5 1/2 years old and he is on currently on his 2nd kidney transplant. The first one came from my husband (his dad) when he was 2 1/2 years old but a blood clot formed and cut off the flow of blood to the kidney so then he had to heal, wait and get on the donor list. In 2015, Riley got a cadaver donor kidney and has had it for 7 years now. He takes meds every day including immunosuppressants (so covid 19 has been scary) and has to drink lots of water and has some other restrictions too - but so far, so good with this one. Riley will certainly need more than 1 transplant in his lifetime but we are hopeful that there will be better medical options by the time he needs the next one. Riley is also a huge superhero fan... but if we are being honest he thinks the villains look cooler. Riley is going into 7th grade this coming school year. He loves movies, reading and writing.
-----------------------
KAIGAN FEST 2021 "KAIGAN AMBASSADOR-KAPTAIN KAIGAN BENJAMIN REED". Bridget (Ben's mother) shares their story........
Ben is a funny, kind, compassionate guy who loves animals and gaming. He is entering 9th grade and will be 14 this month! Ben isn't new to hospital stays or having medical issues, but this one takes the cake. Our world was rocked when he was diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (IGA Vasculitis) in November 2019. It started out with spots on his legs that looked like bug bites, then over the course of a few days his entire lower body was covered and he began having pain and swelling in his joints. Later that week he started getting stomach pain and couldn't eat or sleep. We were told that this disease would likely be self limiting, and it just had to run its course, but that wasn't the case with Ben. As his Pediatrician said "There is always an exception, and Ben tends to be the exception". The next day were in the ER because he was vomiting blood and having terrible stomach pain. He was taken from the local ER via ambulance to Janet Weis, where they suspected he had Intussusception (twisting of the bowels).
He was seen by several pediatric specialists during his week stay, including nephrology and gastroenterology. They were finally able to manage his pain, so he was sent home on a cocktail of medication. After a two-hour ride home, his vasculitis really kicked in, and the spots on his ankles began getting larger and opening. His feet and ankles were so swollen fluid began weeping out like tree sap. He was in excruciating pain and he didn't sleep for 36 hours. Nothing we did helped, we were constantly on the phone with his team of doctors, begging for help because we couldn't make the pain stop, and he was exhausted. They finally prescribed an oral steroid and within a few hours he started getting relief.
He started doing homebound learning through his local school district once we got the pain and swelling under control. But the stomach pain came back and he had daily constant stomach pain for about 6 weeks. Things finally seemed to calm down some around Christmas, but then his kidneys decided it was their turn. IGA Vasculitis can affect other organs, but most commonly affected are the stomach and kidneys. The doctors continued to monitor him and eventually it led to a Nephrology referral because he was spilling high amounts of protein and blood. Right before his nephrology consult in February, he caught both influenza and strep within a 10 day period. He had returned to school, and the germs just jumped at the chance. His urine went from normal, to black as espresso, then a light pink - all within a few hours. We knew then that his kidneys were in trouble.
We finally got to see the doctors from Geisinger Pediatric Nephrology, and they came up with a plan. They started daily steroids to try to slow things down and they did some testing to rule out other issues, since IGA Vasculitis can only really be diagnosed with a skin sample from one of the lesions or a kidney biopsy. In April 2020, he had a kidney biopsy and they were able to confirm his diagnosis. It also revealed that his kidneys had roughly 10% permanent damage to the glomeruli (the filters in your kidneys that filter blood), and he was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis and IGA Nephropathy.
They admitted him for three days for IV pulse therapy with high dose steroids. Ben had the typical side effects from the steroids, which was hard on him. Luckily he was able to stop taking steroids a year ago. He was put on a blood pressure medication and mycophenolate (an immunosuppressant). He has been on this medication for over a year now, and we are finally seeing improvement to the point that he is starting to wean from the immunosuppressant. We are so lucky to have a team of doctors who knew what to look for and how to treat him.
Ben rarely complains about what he is going through or things he needs to do in order to stay healthy. His siblings also gave up a lot in the last year to keep him safe and healthy, which I know he appreciates. We have had ups and downs, and we all missed a lot during the last 19 months of managing his illness, but we knew Ben needed us to keep him on the path to healing. He is so worth it! All three of our kids are looking forward to going back to in person learning in a few weeks and we are hopeful that things will continue to look up for Ben.
