Before the start of the Pirates game on Sunday, the National Kidney Foundation honored Alex Reed and several other people in need of a kidney. Reed’s mother, a local advocate, is asking the public for help.
When Alex was 22 years old, he started having extremely high blood pressure for reasons the McCandless mother says are still unknown.
“In just a very short period of time, in a matter of four months, both of his kidneys failed,” Bobbie Reed said.
Alex spent two years on a kidney transplant waiting list until a stranger whose son played baseball with Alex donated one of his own. That was in 2015 and since then, Bobbie Reed has been a staunch advocate.
“That’s my drive to help other people,” Bobbie Reed said.
Bobbie said she viewed her son’s donor as someone who wanted to give back and it inspired her to do the same. She has spent the past several years spreading awareness about kidney disease and living donation.
“If I can change someone else’s life or impact them like he had helped us, then I’m going to do it,” Bobbie Reed said.
The need for organ donation is critical. According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 88,000 people across the country were on a kidney transplant waiting list as of January 2023.
Alex is back on that list, he went back on dialysis at the start of the year. None of his family members are able to donate because of a genetic mutation.
Bobbie Reed is hoping to spread the word through a golf fundraiser that was organized by Alex’s friends. They are hoping to find donors and raise money for kidney foundations.
Click here to sign up for the golf fundraiser.
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