My Mama D: Part 3

Alright, friends. This is why I wanted to share my dear Donna with you all. Remember how I told you how feisty she is? How much zest for life she has? It's been ripped away from her. Well, not her feisty ways... I think that is just permanent 😉

Donna has a rare auto immune disease that has literally taken over her life. There have been times when she's gone into surgeries not knowing if she will come out of them alive. I don't have the right words to describe all that she's endured the last 15 years since this disease began to destroy her body. In her own words, "I have had numerous major surgeries to replace my large blood vessels, not once, but twice in many cases. I have had two heart attacks and surgeries too numerous to count. I deal with chronic pain and I live in a state of toxicity everyday, because while on dialysis, any type of dialysis, your body is only cleared of about 10% of the toxins that your kidneys would normally filter."

This is what Donna deals with daily. This woman who dedicated herself to helping others for 22 years as an RN, is now living in a sickly state every. single. day. The disease has disabled her permanently, and now, it has caused her kidneys to fail. If I am correct, I believe one is already completely useless. Donna survives because of her dialysis. Donna also survives because she's a damn fighter - always has been, always will be.

And now, my mama D needs help. Because she can't make enough money (due to her having to live with a disabling disease) she hasn't been able to get the proper care she desperately needs. She's had to drive 700 miles just to meet with a surgeon! Bottom line - she needs a kidney transplant and needs the money just to get healthy enough so she can get one.

Donna absolutely despises asking for money. It's a humbling experience and one that I have definitely experienced myself. So for my mama D, I am asking on her behalf. She has a Facebook page set up as well as a youcaring page (I will include links below). Donna has always given 110% of herself to others; her children, her grandchild, her friends, her parents, not to mention her many patients. And now she needs help.

I will share with you a prayer that I prayed to God before one of Donna's major surgeries - one that I continue to pray for her today as well: Dear Heavenly Father, I beg of You to save Donna's life. Please, Lord, don't take her from me. Don't take away another mom from me. Don't take away a mother of three, God, because I already know the pain of losing a mother, and I know what it's like to still need them after they're gone. Please spare her children that pain, Father. Please, don't let another family lose their mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, and friend. I beg You, Lord. Amen.

I prayed this before a surgery that we weren't sure she would survive. I remember her calling from recovery, crying. I remember sinking to the floor when I heard her voice and silently thanking God for getting her through the surgery.

But I still pray the same prayer - because Donna needs a kidney. Without the transplant, she will die. This woman hasn't even hit 60 yet, people.

So I am sharing my prayer with you as well. Help me save my Mama D. Prevent another family from losing their mom, their grandma, their daughter, their sister. Help me save someone who has always helped me even when she was sick. I ask you to donate and share. Help me spread this to as many people as possible so that she has a chance at getting her life back - because she has so much more life left and more people to help.

Thank you all for reading about Donna.

People need to know who she is.

So they know who they are saving.

Listed below are links for more information and donation:

A Kidney for Donna

Click here to learn more and donate!

Mama D: Part 2

My mama D is someone that I've always looked up to, since the day we started swapping stories of our lives. She is, without a doubt, one of the strongest women I have ever met. She has been through the ringer, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually - and this woman still has this zest for life that I've only come across a handful of times. She owns her past, including the good, bad, and ugly, and doesn't apologize for being who she is - and that's one feisty woman.

Due to my living in Iowa and Donna living on the East Coast, as well as my being a penniless college student at the time, visiting each other hasn't been something we've been able to do very often. But since our first in North Carolina, I've been lucky enough to visit her, as well as a few of my other LOST mamas, a few more times.

I flew to Florida for two weeks in May of 2011 to visit Donna and our beloved friend (my mama B) Beth, who, at that time, was in need of some extra physical help. Donna was living with Beth at the time and this was also my first time meeting my mama B, as well. A few other LOST mamas joined us on this trip as well, some flying from across the country to be there! Needless to say, it was a crazy, funny, emotional, and love-filled trip. Saying goodbye to each of them was just as difficult as it was to say goodbye to Donna that first time.

We were getting into some mischief of some kind that night...

In 2013, Donna and Beth (who are sisters in every way but blood), invited me down to visit for another two weeks, this time in Alabama where they were living at the time. Again, another one of my LOST mamas joined us (she and I have more of an Aunt/sister relationship though 😉) from across the country for one of the weeks I was there. It was another trip filled with relaxation, midnight margaritas, love, and lots of LOST re-watching lol.

Said midnight margaritas - they were very good, if I remember correctly. 

This trip, however, was the last time I was to see my beloved Mama B, though.

Beth passed away suddenly the following year, devastating all of us and everyone who knew her. Donna was with her during her last days, keeping us all up to date on her condition. Sisters until the end, of this life, as least. Sisters in the next as well <3 It was three years ago yesterday, actually, July 17, 2014, that we said goodbye to our Bethie. Part of this blog is dedicated to her, today.

I have one more left in store for this series on my mama D. so stay tuned to learn more about this amazing, beautiful, funny, and vivacious woman and why I want you to know her the way I do.

My Mama D: Part 1 - A Series

In one of my previous blogs, I shared about my relationships with the many "mamas" I have across the country and world. Well, I wanted to share some stories about one of my mamas in particular, Mama D - also known as Donna :)

When my mother passed away in September of 2010, I was at an extremely low point in my life. It was hard for me to get out of bed to go to work most days. I was a nanny during that time and those little ones brought me so much joy and love into my life, but some days even they couldn't entice me out of my room.

By January 2011, I was very depressed and on the brink of losing my job. Thankfully, that's when Donna and I connected and started discussing me making a trip out to North Carolina to spend a week with her. Now, let me remind you, at this point in time, I had never met Donna in person. But I had spoken on the phone with her many times, laughed with her until I cried, cried to her about missing my mom... but I had never met her face to face. I knew it would be a challenge for my dad to be okay with me flying to the East Coast to stay a week with a "complete stranger," but somehow, he gave me the okay to visit. Even payed for the plane ticket for me to fly there.

I wasn't nervous to meet Donna. I already loved her and cherished our friendship. She was a mother to me in many ways, but she was also fun and spunky and full of life. When I got off the plane, she was waiting for me in the airport with a big smile on her face. It's one thing to see pictures of someone and hear their voice on the phone, but to finally be with them? It's such an amazing and surreal experience. There's a part of you that knows this is the first time you are actually seeing them, but at the same time, you feel like a part of your heart has been there the whole time. She wrapped me in big hug, both of us giddy with excitement. And then off we went!

We drove to her house on Carolina Beach, right on the Atlantic ocean. I had never seen the Atlantic ocean, so naturally I spent quite a bit of time out walking on the sand, staring at the water. I even made sure to dip my toes in the surf (just once) in the middle of January, which naturally made Donna laugh her butt off. But I had to say I did it! Hello! ;)

Our time together was like a week long slumber party. We both slept in her bed (with her cat, Big Kitty) under her favorite Red Sox blanket. We drank wine and laughed until we cried. We'd watch our favorite episodes of LOST while snuggling under the warm blankies. She and her son introduced me to "Upta Camp," a hilarious stand up by Maine comedian Bob Marley (real name, btw). I'm fairly certain we listed to it all the way through at least 2 to 3 times. My face and stomach hurt from laughing so much.  (Here's a link to Marley's stand up: Upta Camp)


We went on a ferry to another tiny little town where I got some fun little souvenirs for some of the kids I watched back home. The ferry ride alone, though? Even then we belly laughed the whole ride because we kept trying to take a good picture but we couldn't stop laughing. And then, because we were laughing, our eyes were pretty much invisible in pictures, so that just allowed more hilarity to ensue.

I was holding her eyes open so we could see them while laughing :) 

 We would hang out on her porch and look out at the ocean while drank coffee and smoked cigarettes. We could even see dolphins jumping in the mornings. For someone from Iowa, that alone was pretty amazing. 

We even got our first tattoos together when I was there! My tree on my left wrist I got while in North Carolina, while Donna had a verse in Hebrew tattooed on her back. I remember the tattoo parlor was amazing, especially for the Marvel/DC nerds who came in because the entire floor was made up of comic books! I was very excited for many reasons that day :) I mean, check out this floor, you guys!

When it came time to leave, Donna put a tie-dyed stuff animal cat in my arms to snuggle with on the plane back home. We cried when we said goodbye. I never wanted to leave... I was at home away from home, and I didn't want to go back to reality. Especially without my Donna. We said our tearful goodbyes and I love yous before I had to go board my plane. I sat in my seat, put my headphones on, held my new cat tightly, and wept as quietly as I could as I looked out the window until we were in the clouds.

This wasn't the last time I saw my mama D, but I do believe this trip was the beginning of what truly bonded us and connected our hearts forever.

I have much more to share about Mama Donna, but that will have to wait until Part 2 of this little mini blog series :)

God bless, you guys <3