Texas Veteran Looking For Kidney Match To Save His Life

A 28-year-old veteran from China Spring, TX (just outside of Waco) served our country for 6 years in the U.S. Navy. Now he needs us to give back to him in the ultimate way.

Collin Mize spoke with ABC25 saying that he first noticed something was wrong on his first deployment.

"I started having symptoms of itchy and rashy skin," Collin explained.

It wasn't until he was home that doctors diagnosed him with a rare and aggressive form of kidney disease called Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS. The disease makes his kidneys essentially useless, prompting the necessity of a kidney transplant.

Today, Collin is medically retired from the Navy. The father of two now spends the most part of each day attached to a machine, receiving daily dialysis treatments.

Collin is currently working with Veterans Affairs to be added to the transplant list. However, he could be waiting over a decade for a match.

"The list is so long because we're all waiting on deceased donors, and those deceased donors have to be, its not just anybody deceased, they have to be brain dead." Collin told ABC25. "Their blood still has to be pumping, and they have to be organ donors," Collin said. "They're few and far between and that's why the list keeps growing and growing."

Here's where you come in. Collin is part of kidney swap program where a willing donor would have all their medical expenses paid to donate their kidney to save Collin's life.

Donors can live anywhere in the U.S. and still get tested to match.

So how can you help?

• Call the Living Donor Program Coordinator, Mr. Roby, from the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center (713) 794-7418.
• Give them Collin's full name: Collin Mize, and his date of birth: Jan. 8 1992.

This small move could be the difference for a man that's already done so much for each of us. He served for us, now it's our time to step and help him.