CLICK TO LISTEN TO JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH SARA GILES, SCHOOLCRAFT MEMORIAL
A young man from Manistique who has “stage-five” kidney disease is hoping someone out there has a kidney that can save his life. Johnny Lockhart is just 22 years old, and was diagnosed with IGA nephropathy at the age of 13.
Well, now, he’s traveling to dialysis three times a week and is in desperate need for a kidney transplant from someone who has “O” Blood Type.
The folks at Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital are trying to help the family compile a list of potential donors. Sara Giles is the hospital’s marketing director.
“We are going to be opening our lab for free testing for anyone who’s interested to find out if they have ‘O’ blood type,” Giles told RRN News. “They can register in our main atrium lobby area, and let them know that that’s the test they’re coming for, and we’ll actually mail the results right to the patient. And then we have information on how to get in touch with the family if that person is a match and would like to be placed on their list.”
Giles says the response has already been incredible from the community.
“We posted (on social media) after the family posted, and we’ve already seen 20,000 page views of the post that we put on our own site,” Giles told RRN News. “So, you can imagine that outreach and where this is going. It’s definitely going outside of Manistique. We’re reaching all areas of the U.P. and different states as well.:
If you think you might be a match, you can go to the hospital between 7 and 5:30 Monday to Friday, or between 8 and 2 on Saturday,
A go-fund me page has also been set up to try to raise some money to help the family with the travel and other expenses. Just type in “Kidney Transplant For Johnny” on that site.
