Tammy's Broken Beans
September 6th, 2014 - I'm very happy to report that on September 3rd, Tammy finally received her kidney transplant. We want to thank everybody that has supported us over the years. It means so much to us that close friends, family members, and strangers we've never met outside of cyberspace have been by our side the whole time.
For up to date news, pictures, videos, and discussions, please visit our Facebook page. It is open to all. Thanks again! ~Robert
www.facebook.com/groups/TBBeans
For up to date news, pictures, videos, and discussions, please visit our Facebook page. It is open to all. Thanks again! ~Robert
www.facebook.com/groups/TBBeans
In March of 2011 my wife Tammy Brumm developed Stage Five Renal Disease. That's fancy talk for her kidneys don't work so good. Actually, they don't work at all. The photo to the left shows what Tammy does 3 hours a day, 3 times a week, every week or she'll die. Don't let the smile on her face fool you, she hates every minute of it.
She comes home after treatment sick as a dog and sleeps most of the day, three days a week, every week. On the days she doesn't have dialysis she feels a little better. But not much.
In late 2012 I organized a fund raiser to help with our mountain of medicals and wrote this:
She comes home after treatment sick as a dog and sleeps most of the day, three days a week, every week. On the days she doesn't have dialysis she feels a little better. But not much.
In late 2012 I organized a fund raiser to help with our mountain of medicals and wrote this:
After struggling for years with several autoimmune diseases, my wife Tammy received the biggest blow yet one year ago - stage five chronic kidney disease. Her kidneys have completely failed. Tammy goes to dialysis three times a week and is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
On top of that, she has been suffering with psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, pustular psoriasis, hypertension, pancreatitus, and diverticulosis for the past few years and most of these condition are slowly getting worse. Over the past year she's also battled several serious infections and blood clots. Tammy is 37 years old.
During our visit to the Mayo Clinic last spring, one of the doctors said she was one of the most complex cases he'd ever seen. You can say that again!
Tammy went to college in 2003 with dreams of a career in social work. She earned her associates, bachelors, and masters degree while taking care of me and the kids and working full time. After just a few short years, her health problems got bad enough where she could no longer work and had to quit her job. These days, dialysis takes so much out of her and leaves her weak and sick. The constant pain from her joints and weakness in her muscles severely limits her movements, activities, and quality of life. I often walk into the room to find her crying in frustration simply because she wants to cook dinner for her family or do the dishes and it's too difficult.
Tammy was at the hospital 14 times last year either in the ER or as an inpatient stay. The longest stay was 13 days shortly after her kidneys failed and they tried chemotherapy. She had two seizures due to high blood pressure and had to spend several days in ICU.
Thank goodness we have medical insurance and help from social security disability, but those pesky medical bills continue to multiply. We find ourselves thousands of dollars in debt with medical expenses and can only expect more on the way once the transplant goes forward and a new year of deductibles begin. We're barely keeping our head above water after Tammy had to stop working and we just can't find a way to catch up on these bills! The other day we realized we pay more on prescription co-pays per month than our car payment.
Instead of concentrating on getting better, Tammy worries about the financial strain her health problems put on our family. No matter how many times I tell her it's not her fault, she still struggles with guilt and it bothers her deeply.
On top of that, she has been suffering with psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, celiac disease, pustular psoriasis, hypertension, pancreatitus, and diverticulosis for the past few years and most of these condition are slowly getting worse. Over the past year she's also battled several serious infections and blood clots. Tammy is 37 years old.
During our visit to the Mayo Clinic last spring, one of the doctors said she was one of the most complex cases he'd ever seen. You can say that again!
Tammy went to college in 2003 with dreams of a career in social work. She earned her associates, bachelors, and masters degree while taking care of me and the kids and working full time. After just a few short years, her health problems got bad enough where she could no longer work and had to quit her job. These days, dialysis takes so much out of her and leaves her weak and sick. The constant pain from her joints and weakness in her muscles severely limits her movements, activities, and quality of life. I often walk into the room to find her crying in frustration simply because she wants to cook dinner for her family or do the dishes and it's too difficult.
Tammy was at the hospital 14 times last year either in the ER or as an inpatient stay. The longest stay was 13 days shortly after her kidneys failed and they tried chemotherapy. She had two seizures due to high blood pressure and had to spend several days in ICU.
Thank goodness we have medical insurance and help from social security disability, but those pesky medical bills continue to multiply. We find ourselves thousands of dollars in debt with medical expenses and can only expect more on the way once the transplant goes forward and a new year of deductibles begin. We're barely keeping our head above water after Tammy had to stop working and we just can't find a way to catch up on these bills! The other day we realized we pay more on prescription co-pays per month than our car payment.
Instead of concentrating on getting better, Tammy worries about the financial strain her health problems put on our family. No matter how many times I tell her it's not her fault, she still struggles with guilt and it bothers her deeply.
Thanks to the generosity of so many people we raised almost $12,000 and took care of many medical bills. A few in the nick of time before the lawsuits came rolling in.
The balances are creeping up once again, but a year later, money is the last thing on my mind. Being sick for so long is really taking a toll on Tammy and our family. We've been waiting years for a cadaver kidney and have gone through a handful of live donor offers, each falling though after an agonizingly long wait. It took nine longs months of waiting to find out her brother couldn't donate early last month. Tammy was so devastated she decided to stop dialysis and end her life. She had no more fight left in her. Thanks to support from her family, friends, therapist, and wonderful women at Davita Dialysis, she changed her mind and continued treatment after missing just one day.
The balances are creeping up once again, but a year later, money is the last thing on my mind. Being sick for so long is really taking a toll on Tammy and our family. We've been waiting years for a cadaver kidney and have gone through a handful of live donor offers, each falling though after an agonizingly long wait. It took nine longs months of waiting to find out her brother couldn't donate early last month. Tammy was so devastated she decided to stop dialysis and end her life. She had no more fight left in her. Thanks to support from her family, friends, therapist, and wonderful women at Davita Dialysis, she changed her mind and continued treatment after missing just one day.
Tammy needs a kidney
BREAKING NEWS! Last week we finally received the call we've been waiting years for. Tammy is having transplant surgery on August 20th 2014. We're doing a 4 way swap - I'm donating my kidney to a compatible patient and their donor is giving a kidney to Tammy. Thank you so much for all your support! ~RB
We're so grateful for the donations we've received over the last couple of years. We've also received many gifts of food, offers to clean our house, do laundry, drive Tammy to treatment, etc. All these things are wonderful and much appreciated, but the thing we really need is a kidney. Man, do we need a kidney.
All it takes to get started is a simple phone call. Donors can live normal healthy lives with just one kidney and all expenses are paid by our insurance. What to do? Simple. Just call the number below and tell the nice person on the other end you're interested in being a live donor for Tammy Brumm.
We're so grateful for the donations we've received over the last couple of years. We've also received many gifts of food, offers to clean our house, do laundry, drive Tammy to treatment, etc. All these things are wonderful and much appreciated, but the thing we really need is a kidney. Man, do we need a kidney.
All it takes to get started is a simple phone call. Donors can live normal healthy lives with just one kidney and all expenses are paid by our insurance. What to do? Simple. Just call the number below and tell the nice person on the other end you're interested in being a live donor for Tammy Brumm.
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center Transplant Program
Living Donor Transplant Coordinator
414-646-0584
Living Donor Transplant Coordinator
414-646-0584
She is also on the transplant list at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN. They are also screening possible live donors.
Mayo Clinic Living Donor Program
866-227-1569
You can ask for Lisa King or simply say you're interested in donating a kidney for Tammy.
866-227-1569
You can ask for Lisa King or simply say you're interested in donating a kidney for Tammy.
Do you have a loved one you can't donate to because you're not compatible? Tammy is also listed on the National Kidney Registry which matches two parties of donor/patients. I can't donate to Tammy but I'm listed on the registry as a donor. I'll give you my kidney if you give me yours for Tammy!
I am Tammy. The gal with the broken beans.
I've written up a bit of a novel. I want people to get to see who I am. I want to be seen as more than a picture on a web site.
My dear, a amazing big brother, Jim ,has spent the last 9 months doing the tests to make sure he could donate to me. We all thought I'd have a kidney before the end of this year. But it turns out he has a heart condition that takes him out of the running. He thought he would save me. Turns out I saved him. If he hadn't been a match and gone through the testing, yes, it's a long ass process, his condition may have gotten worse and he may have died. His heart, he says, thanks my dead kidneys.
Anyone who doesn't match but would give me a kidney if they could--You can donate a kidney to go to the people on the list in my name and my name moves up the list. Yes. I'm out begging for organs. I've been on dialysis for almost 2.5 years. On the list for just one year. The longer on the list, the higher my chance of not making it goes.
I am dying. Dialysis gives me one more day, then I go back to get another day. In 2011 I woke up in end stage renal failure with no previous symptoms. There's 5 stages. I skipped the first four overnight. I am the most unusual case the top doctors at Mayo have seen. Thats a quote from my records. I spent most of that year in the hospital. I fought death and won about 10 times. I was not expected to make it. But I promised my son that I would not die.
Without a kidney soon, I'm going to die. Since Oct of last year, I've lost 90 pounds. Being a size 5/7 isn't great when you have no fat, no muscle to cover your bones. My tailbone sticks out. I thought I was growing a tail. My husband wraps his hand around my upper thigh and I see the sadness and fear in his eyes I don't want to waste away. I don't want to die . I'll leave my husband of 17 years, my knight in shining armor, the man who once came home from work to find me, covered in my own shit, hovering near death. He was told had he not come home from work to check on me, I would have died. I am 38 years old. I've been with him since I was 19. I want more time with him, dammit. I'll leave my boys. My babies, who aren't babies. My 18 year old, Keegan, my 15 year old, Holden Brumm. The lights of my life. The best thing I've ever done. Teenagers need their moms as much as babies do. I am not done yet. There is so much more I have to teach them. They need me. I want to see who they are to become, to be a grandmother some day. To be there in case they inherit my autoimmune bullshit & get sick at age 30, like me. I will not go where my boys cannot follow. That was the exact sentence that ran through my head when I was told my kidneys stopped working.
I want to see my nephews Ethan, Isaiah, Nicholas, Bryce, and Lucas become men. I want to see my nieces, Hannah, Alexa, KateLyn, & my sweet Leah grow up. I am their Auntie Tammy. Katelyn thought the hospital was where I lived. She asked if I was going to die, when she was like 2 years old. she doesn't know a healthy Auntie Tammy. She's seen me with tubes hanging from my chest, my arm, my neck. I don't want my sisters, Christina, Kathie or Connie have to tell these amazing children I've died.. My BFF Christy, her four daughters are so special to me. once while visiting i was resting on the couch after dialysis. Her littlest girls, Lorelai & Jocelyn, who must have been not quite 3, took care of me. They brought me lunch, they ate most of it. They put their tiny hands on my fistula to feel it throbbing and rushing like a train. They crawled up next to me, to share my carrots. but mostly because they love me. I couldn't love any of these children more. I need to see them grow up. But I can't make it with 2 dead kidneys.
Please, share my story. Help me find a kidney. To donate to a stranger, that's heroism. All you need to do is call 414 646 0518. Tell her that you want to be a live donor, that you'd do not match me, but you'd like it to be done in my name, to bump me up.
Many states have laws that force employers to give you paid days off, 3-7, to donate. Most hospitals now remove donor kidneys using a robotic laparoscope machine. A few small incisions to pop that sucker out. I am in the process of getting into a program in Madison WI. It's a kidney trading program. Say my husband, Robert, who can't donate to me, is matched to a different patient, and someone from that patient's family or a friend matches, bam. We trade. Once I'm a part of that, I'll share the number.
Even if you think I'm bat shit crazy for publicly begging for a beautiful, healthy kidney, if there is no way that you could donate a kidney, please, please, PLEASE share my story. Please. Help me live. I'm a good person. I used to work in social work and just finished my Master's and was eyeing my Ph.d in marriage and family therapy when my health forced me to quit the job that I loved. I stop to help people on the side of the road. I'm a good friend. I love my dog, Lilly. I'm a loyal, giving, loving, silly, happy person. I want to live. I deserve to live. So please, share my long winded post. You could save my life, just by sharing my post and asking others to share it too.
Thanks for reading. God Bless you.
Tammy
I've written up a bit of a novel. I want people to get to see who I am. I want to be seen as more than a picture on a web site.
My dear, a amazing big brother, Jim ,has spent the last 9 months doing the tests to make sure he could donate to me. We all thought I'd have a kidney before the end of this year. But it turns out he has a heart condition that takes him out of the running. He thought he would save me. Turns out I saved him. If he hadn't been a match and gone through the testing, yes, it's a long ass process, his condition may have gotten worse and he may have died. His heart, he says, thanks my dead kidneys.
Anyone who doesn't match but would give me a kidney if they could--You can donate a kidney to go to the people on the list in my name and my name moves up the list. Yes. I'm out begging for organs. I've been on dialysis for almost 2.5 years. On the list for just one year. The longer on the list, the higher my chance of not making it goes.
I am dying. Dialysis gives me one more day, then I go back to get another day. In 2011 I woke up in end stage renal failure with no previous symptoms. There's 5 stages. I skipped the first four overnight. I am the most unusual case the top doctors at Mayo have seen. Thats a quote from my records. I spent most of that year in the hospital. I fought death and won about 10 times. I was not expected to make it. But I promised my son that I would not die.
Without a kidney soon, I'm going to die. Since Oct of last year, I've lost 90 pounds. Being a size 5/7 isn't great when you have no fat, no muscle to cover your bones. My tailbone sticks out. I thought I was growing a tail. My husband wraps his hand around my upper thigh and I see the sadness and fear in his eyes I don't want to waste away. I don't want to die . I'll leave my husband of 17 years, my knight in shining armor, the man who once came home from work to find me, covered in my own shit, hovering near death. He was told had he not come home from work to check on me, I would have died. I am 38 years old. I've been with him since I was 19. I want more time with him, dammit. I'll leave my boys. My babies, who aren't babies. My 18 year old, Keegan, my 15 year old, Holden Brumm. The lights of my life. The best thing I've ever done. Teenagers need their moms as much as babies do. I am not done yet. There is so much more I have to teach them. They need me. I want to see who they are to become, to be a grandmother some day. To be there in case they inherit my autoimmune bullshit & get sick at age 30, like me. I will not go where my boys cannot follow. That was the exact sentence that ran through my head when I was told my kidneys stopped working.
I want to see my nephews Ethan, Isaiah, Nicholas, Bryce, and Lucas become men. I want to see my nieces, Hannah, Alexa, KateLyn, & my sweet Leah grow up. I am their Auntie Tammy. Katelyn thought the hospital was where I lived. She asked if I was going to die, when she was like 2 years old. she doesn't know a healthy Auntie Tammy. She's seen me with tubes hanging from my chest, my arm, my neck. I don't want my sisters, Christina, Kathie or Connie have to tell these amazing children I've died.. My BFF Christy, her four daughters are so special to me. once while visiting i was resting on the couch after dialysis. Her littlest girls, Lorelai & Jocelyn, who must have been not quite 3, took care of me. They brought me lunch, they ate most of it. They put their tiny hands on my fistula to feel it throbbing and rushing like a train. They crawled up next to me, to share my carrots. but mostly because they love me. I couldn't love any of these children more. I need to see them grow up. But I can't make it with 2 dead kidneys.
Please, share my story. Help me find a kidney. To donate to a stranger, that's heroism. All you need to do is call 414 646 0518. Tell her that you want to be a live donor, that you'd do not match me, but you'd like it to be done in my name, to bump me up.
Many states have laws that force employers to give you paid days off, 3-7, to donate. Most hospitals now remove donor kidneys using a robotic laparoscope machine. A few small incisions to pop that sucker out. I am in the process of getting into a program in Madison WI. It's a kidney trading program. Say my husband, Robert, who can't donate to me, is matched to a different patient, and someone from that patient's family or a friend matches, bam. We trade. Once I'm a part of that, I'll share the number.
Even if you think I'm bat shit crazy for publicly begging for a beautiful, healthy kidney, if there is no way that you could donate a kidney, please, please, PLEASE share my story. Please. Help me live. I'm a good person. I used to work in social work and just finished my Master's and was eyeing my Ph.d in marriage and family therapy when my health forced me to quit the job that I loved. I stop to help people on the side of the road. I'm a good friend. I love my dog, Lilly. I'm a loyal, giving, loving, silly, happy person. I want to live. I deserve to live. So please, share my long winded post. You could save my life, just by sharing my post and asking others to share it too.
Thanks for reading. God Bless you.
Tammy
Links
Tammy's Broken Beans group on Facebook. Please join and send Tammy words of encouragement!
Fundraiser (no longer active) on Giveforward.com. Lot's of info and pictures.
Tammy's Broken Beans T-Shirt Fundraiser (No Longer Open)
More info on being a live kidney donor: www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors
Tammy's Broken Beans group on Facebook. Please join and send Tammy words of encouragement!
Fundraiser (no longer active) on Giveforward.com. Lot's of info and pictures.
Tammy's Broken Beans T-Shirt Fundraiser (No Longer Open)
More info on being a live kidney donor: www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors
Donations Accepted. Thank you!
Shop at Amazon to Support Tammy
Interested in helping without spending an extra dime? Do you enjoy shopping at Amazon? Simply by clicking on the referral link below and shopping as usual will help us. It won't cost you any extra! Once you're at Amazon, bookmark the site and use it every time you go shopping. A small percentage of each sale will go toward helping cover our medical costs. Thank you!
