One Night, She Picked Up Sushi From A Grocery Store To Have For Dinner And Eating That Ultimately Sent Her Kidneys Into Failure
San Diego, California. Two years ago, a young woman named Devon Ko picked up sushi one night from a local grocery store to have for dinner.
After eating that sushi for dinner, Devon came down with ciguatera fish poisoning, which in turn caused her kidneys to fail.
She was only 31-years-old at the time she was diagnosed.
“Before she knew it, she was in a terrifying situation, fighting tooth and nail for her life in the ICU,” one of her friends wrote on a GoFundMe page for her.
“Since then, for the last 2.5 years, she’s been living in kidney failure — enduring six invasive surgeries, dialysis treatments, extreme trauma and stress, and for a time, even losing her ability to walk.”
“Before her accident, Devon’s life was full of promise. A passionate teacher, she had just created her most popular course to date on 3D software.”
“She welcomed thousands of eager students to her design community.”
“Now Devon lives on a dialysis machine for 10 hours a day, every day. Her ability to pursue her passions in design and teaching has been severely limited. All her energy is focused on the work of surviving from day to day.”
GoFundMe; pictured above is Devon
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Devon’s situation has recently become more severe and she now will need a kidney transplant to save her life.
Devon lives in California, and in her state, it normally takes about 10 years to find a match.
“The outlook isn’t great: 1 in 4 dialysis patients die in the first 12 months, and the average life expectancy is 5 years,” Devon explained on a website she created to help her find a match.
“I don’t like to think about it, but a lot of people in my situation die before they have an opportunity to be transplanted.”
“But there’s still hope — this is where you can help! If I find a matching kidney donor on my own, I could be transplanted in a matter of months.”
Devon’s perfect match has O blood type, either O- or O+. They are between 18 and 55 years old, and they live in the United States.
“Donating a kidney has a high success rate, fast recovery time, and all costs are covered by the recipient,” Devon continued. “You can live a normal, healthy life with just one kidney.”
“I can’t begin to describe how much it would mean to have another chance at life. I dream of being able to stand in front of a classroom and teach again. A kidney donor would make this possible for me.”
If you are interested in seeing if you are a match for Devon, you can check out her website here, and if you would like to help donate to Devon’s medical care, you can check out the GoFundMe for her here.
More About:Human Interest
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