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Show Kidney-transplantgirl’s inspiring story ‘My Long to the By JANE JARMOL THOMAS Mother says she gave birth to me twice. My actual birth date is Sept. 23, 1948. But I was really reborn on May 23, 1967. That’s the day my mother donated herleft kidney for the transplant that saved my life. Now I’m married and expectingourfirst baby in thefall. She Needs Your Loe. is Little Rosetta doesn’t know that her future hangs in the balance . . . her father has just been killed in an accident, her mother cannot earn enough to feed a large family. Before long her big smile will be lost as she searches for food, shivers without warm clothing, unable to even write her own name, trapped forlife in a crowded slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Wemustenroll her in our Family Helper Project immediately, so she can stay with her mother, yet receive the assistance and education that will make her childhood happy—and her future hopeful. Howcan you sponsora child like Rosetta in countries around the world? Here are some answers to your questions: Q. What does it cost to sponsor a child? A. Only $12 per month. (Your gifts are tax deductible.) Q. May I choose the child I wish to help? A. You mayindicate your preference of boy or girl, age, and country. Many sponsors allow us to select a child from our emergencylist. Q.Will I receive a photograph of my child? A. Yes, and with the photograph will come acase history plus a description of the home or project where your child receives help. Q. How long does it take before I learn about the child assigned to me? A. You will receive your Personal SponsorFolder in about two weeks, giving you complete information about the child you will be helping. Q. MayI write to my child? A. Yes. In fact, your child will write to you a few weeks after you become a sponsor. Yourletters are translated by one of our workers overseas. You receive your child’s original letter, plus an English translation, direct from the home or project overseas. research ward to the maternity ward Q. Howlong has CCFbeen helping children ? A. Since 1938. Q. Whathelp does the child receive from my support? A. In countries of great poverty, such as India, yourgifts provide total support for a child. In other countries your sponsorship gives the children benefits that otherwise they would not receive, such as diet supplements, medical care, adequate clothing, school supplies. Q. Are all the children in orphanages? A. No, somelive with widowed mothers, and through CCF Family Helper Projects they are enabled to stay at home, rather than enter an orphanage. CCF has homesfor the blind, abandoned babies homes, day care nurseries, health homes, vocationaltraining centers, and many other types of projects. Q. Who owns and operates CCF ? A. Chris- tian Children’s Fund is an independent, non-profit organization, regulated by a national Board of Directors. CCF cooperates with both church and government agencies, but is completely independent. Q. Who supervises the work overseas? A. Regional offices are staffed with both Americans and nationals. Caseworkers, orphanage superintendents, housemothers, and other personnel must meet high professional standards—plus have a deep love for children. Q. How do you keep track of all the children and sponsors? A. Through our IBM data processing equipment, we maintain complete information on every child receiving assistance and the sponsor who provides the gifts. Sponsors urgently needed this month for children in: India, Brazil, Taiwan (Formosa) and Hong Kong. (Orlet us select a child for you from our emergency list.) Write today: Verent J. Mills CHRISTIAN CHILDREN’S FUND, Inc. mickmood,vs. 23204 I wish to sponsor a [) boy [) girl in CONTE ba {) Choose a child who needs me most. I will pay $12 a month. I enclose myfirst payment of $____. Send me chiid’s name, story, address and picture, | cannot sponsor a child but want to give $__.. OD Please send me more information. It's a long trip from the kidney- department. It was difficult to keep up with the ever-changing me. My face looked puffed up one day and downright thin the next, in direct relation to my salt intake. Other symptoms kept cropping up, toc. The following summer of 1962, I again spcatseveral weeks in the hospital undergoing tests and treatment, this time at the modern kidney research facilities of The New York Hospital. I continued to be an outpatient there, making regular clinic visits every other week with myfather driving me in from our home in Bay Shore, N.Y., on Long Island. > Name. Address, City, Sint —one that nobody thought I'd ever be taking. Today I’m thrilled to be alive—and to be giving life. It all seems unreal. I’m so happy I just want to jump for joy. However, the six-year nightmare of events leading up to my transplant won't be easily erased. Growing up, I remember sometimes neglecting to contribute when volunteers asked for money to support research in combating various diseases. After all, illness was remote —something which always struck other people. Now I know. For when I was 12 years old, i came down with a terrible strep throat. And my legs were swollen. By the time I spent a third consecutive summer in the hospital, I was feeling like a human guinea pig but remained blindly hopeful the condition would soon clear up. I did manage to hold my ownfor the next three years. My weight was slowly going down. And my morale was going up. Only the clinic visits continued. Celebrating my good health, I became a sort of super teen-ager, enthusiastically plunging into that stage of life I had so desperately missed being a part of. Then it happened. Atthe beginning of my senior year at Bay Shore High School, I suddenly becameill. Desperately ill. I felt so exhausted, I would cut classes Our family doctor was puzzled. He thought perhaps my symptoms were caused by some spider bites I had received at camp a few monthsear- and go to a friend’ house tosleep, afraid of alarming my parents. And lier. He suggested my parents take tired, tuo anemic to do anything. I was becoming a vegetable. WhenI fould myself having trou- me to a specialist who promptly put mein the hospital for six weeks to run tests. The result: I had developed nephritis, a disease characterized by malfunctioning of the kidneys —keeping the poisons locked in the body. Causes of the illness remain undiscovered. Doctors at the hospital gave me heavy doses of pills, instructed me to keep off salts, and decided to take a wait-and-see aititude concerning my condition, for which I soon learned there was no knowncure. As a re- sult of the medication, I suddenly gained 40 pounds—going from size eight to a size 16 dress without any change in my regular eating habits. Entering junior high school that year, I had to skip teen styles and shopped for clothes in the women’s Registered (VFA-080) with the U. S. Government's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. Gifts are tax deductible. Canadians: Write 1407 Yonge, Toronto 7. FW 6600 8 Family Weekly, October 18, 1970 I couldn’t hold down food, hadterrible chills, and was constantly too ble breathing, I was finally rushed to a local hospital for transfusions and then spent the next three months at The New York Hospital. Our worst fears were realized: My kidneys were failing rapidly During this time, my high-school principal contacted me with the news that I'd be receiving my diploma even though my illness would definitely prevent me from attending classes the rest of the term. It seemed possible I wouldn’t live past my 18th birthday. I underwent peritoneal dialysis, a medical process whereby a tube is inserted in the stomach, slowly drain- ing the system of accumulated poisons—work my kidneys were too sick |