I could use your help
Meet Quinn.
Isn’t she about the cutest thing ever? Quinn and her big brother Gage have polycystic kidney disease. What this means for Quinn lately is that she’s really really tired and itchy and she’s getting new injections, (which don’t tickle, let me tell you) and she’s about to have a kidney transplant. Quinn’s big brother had a kidney transplant a little over a year ago and Quinn watched him go through it. She’s pretty nervous about the scar.
It’s the lousy nature of PKD that having a kidney transplant –while an amazing lifesaving gift — also creates its own set of challenges. And — as is also true for her brother — it won’t be her last transplant since she will need more in the future.
But Quinn, as you can see in the picture above, is a child blessed with a sunny disposition. She is sweet and silly and generous (she let her mom send all her old tutus to Madison!) and she is patient when her brother is showered with gifts from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (I’m pretty sure she inherited her optimism and generosity from her mom.)
Quinn wants one thing before her kidney transplant; she wants to get her ears pierced. Here is what her mom says about granting these kinds of requests (read the whole post here):
One night before bed I confessed to Julian I had realized that if Gage died from the transplant complications I wanted him to have experienced a dog. He declared “Game Over” and the next weekend we were dog shopping at the Atlanta Humane Society. We had a miss with one dog who bit Quinn, and then we ended up with the best dog ever - 6 year old Lucy. We love her dearly, but she is with the family because of my fear of my child dying. Without him knowing the reason why (duh) I was granting him that one wish. It was worth it at the time and still today.
Lately, Quinn has been talking about wanting to get her ears pierced.
So, yeah. We are so letting her get them done. I can’t let her go into life-saving surgery without some jewelry.
Here’s what I want to do. I want to send Quinn a whole mess of earrings (and maybe stickers or cards or paper dolls or other stuff easy to fit into an envelope) from lots of folks. Originally I thought I’d send ‘em all at once along with something I’ve put aside for each of the kids but now I’m thinking it might be nice to send ‘em as I get ‘em because getting mail when you’re a kid is loads of fun. If you’d like to send Quinn some earrings, comment here or contact me and I’ll send you my address. I’ll push the gifts right along to Quinn.
Look at that bright and shiny girl up there! Wouldn’t some nifty earrings go great with her sparkling hazel eyes?
I’d like the address…her personality is just shining out of that face.
Oh, I’d love to send her some earrings. Please send me your address. What a sweetheart.
As a long-time reader of Julia’s blog and a fellow PKDer (though I have a different kind of PKD than Gage and Quinn), I absolutely want to send her some earrings! Strangely enough, I was just thinking that I’d like to send her something, as epo shots really are awful, so this is just perfect timing. Thanks, Dawn.
We’d love to send her some.
Me too, me too!
Ah, man. Ya’ll are makin’ my day (we live in the south). Thanks Dawn. And thanks everyone. Quinn needs a little sparkle and happiness, so this is perfect timing.
Quinn’s Proud and Tired Mom,
Julia
[...] another note altogether, my friend Dawn did something sweet for Quinn. You can read her post here. It’s times like these that I realize that people really are good. She wants to treat Quinn to [...]
[...] over at This Woman’s Work, has put a call out for help - go there, help. What are you waiting [...]
I tweeted about this post (w/ link) as I have a LOT of Etsy users on my following list. Hopefully they respond.
Please jot me off your snail mail addy as I need it anyway. I will get something in the mail on Monday for Quinn.
Please send me your address too, Dawn. I have three girls who can act as bling consultants for me.
Feel free to send along her address. I’d be happy to include her on my gift list.
I sent this to my friend who makes jewelry and she’s whipping up a pair from me and a pair from her.
Omigosh, there are adorable earrings at a gift shop near our house, so count me in!! I’ll keep Quinn in my prayers, too.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Dawn, what a great idea. I have Quinns address so I’ll save you some time and postage. When Gage was going thru dialysis and transplant I thought Quinn was feeling left out and sent her a present. Now we’ll have to do the opposite. I am also a PKD Supporter. www.hopesquare.org Andy’s Mommy Sharing About Life with ARPKD.
[...] Quinn got a big box from Dawn shipped from Ohio. A while ago Dawn spread the word on her blog and twitter that Quinn was [...]
Hi, this is Just Me from Master of Irony. I’d like to send her some. I just don’t want my information to auto-pop in this computer. My email is masterofirony@roadrunner.com
[...] not a reader of Kidneys and Eyes, I urge you to become one. A few weeks ago, another K&E reader put out a call to the Blogosphere and I posted about that call here. She was asking that everyone come together and send earrings to [...]