Dear Tumblr,

My dad needs a double lung transplant.

He’s holding an oxygen tank, in the red bag, in this picture. He’s on oxygen at all times, and he risks injury or possible death without it. He has bronchiectasis, which basically means his lungs are set up in a way that bad stuff (germs and fluid mostly) stays down in his lungs and his body can’t bring it up. There is no cure for this other than a transplant.

He currently has two big, constant infections, mycobacterial avium complex (or MAC, think a non-contagious, not-quite-lethal version of tuberculosis), and aspergillis (also nasty). Also, due to the constant festering and fluid in his lungs, he is almost constantly battling strains of viral pneumonia. He is in the hospital an average of 5 times a year from anywhere from a week to a month. When he gets home, he has to administer IV medication himself, tubes almost constantly implanted in his arms. He cannot take pills because, due to the severity of the infections, all available, applicable pills are useless. The infections are simply too resistant.

This is on top of COPD, which some people are on the transplant list for without any other complications.

As the situation stands, this puts a severe strain on our family, because it is difficult for all of us, and especially my father, to live normal lives. I know the hospital better than the employees. My dad cannot walk across the room or eat without a respiratory attack. My mother comes home to an empty house every day for weeks. This is no way for any of us to live, and the doctors are afraid that, one day, when the infections are bad enough, my dad will die.

Transplants are expensive (think about the cost of a few nice houses in the suburbs), but our insurance is good. Unfortunately, hospital bills, co-pays, and medication is still going to be expensive. Also, if my father gets the transplant, and survives, my mother will have to be out of work for a month minimum. Her elementary schoolteacher’s salary is our only source of income other than my dad’s social security disability check, and they are trying to keep me in college.

We are doing a fundraiser for my father, and you can click any of the links in this post to get to his donation page.

Donations have to be through this website, because we have signed an agreement with them that we won’t accept donations any other way. The organization is useful because if he raises money, the organization will match some of it, or give him gifts, etc. If he dies, any money raised for him will be gifted to other people who need organs.

Also, if you (or your parents) need convincing, donations are tax-deductable.

If you can’t donate, or don’t want to, you might do me a favor or two. Both are free:

1. Signal boost this information, and pass it along.
2. Become an organ donor.