God hates a quitter, and I’m not a quitter

In life I’ve learned not to ask for help, and I have always tried to take care of others. I now know that I not only need help, I need to ask for it. I need to try and talk about myself without sounding self-serving.
I am not an angel, my friends and family will agree ( although my mother always said I was). For the first time in a long time, I finally feel something other than hopeless. After the transplant team from Yale New Haven told me I had a chance at a kidney transplant, I cried. Tears of joy, tears of fear, and tears of the unknown. The possibility of a new life has always felt unreachable for me. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 9. Talk about life changing. Then I was diagnosed with kidney failure and was told I needed to be on dialysis to live. It was heartbreaking. I was 55. Completely devastating.

After being diagnosed with kidney failure I had to stop working as a fire fighter for the town of North Haven, CT. I was one of their Captains. It was so hard having to walk away from the only life I knew.
As a paramedic for 30 years as well as a firefighter, I have seen the devastation end stage kidney disease, and dialysis can have on not just the patient, but their families as well. Everyday, before the amazing transplant team at Yale gave me the ok to start looking for a donor, I would hope for a miracle of my own. Now that I have the chance to go through the transplant process, I need as much help as I can get. The only way I can get the transplant is with a live donor, so please, if you or anyone you know has ever wanted to be a kidney donor, please consider me and my family.

Asking you to help me with this journey is huge, bigger than anything I have ever asked for in my life. My world revolves around my son, daughter, granddaughter, sisters and all their families. The thought of being freed from the restraints of dialysis and being able to enjoy more time with them is why I am asking for your help. I could never say or do enough to thank you for considering the possibility of a kidney donation.
My name is Ray. I have two new German shepherd puppies and I would love nothing more than to be able to take care of them and give them as much unconditional love as they give me.

I would appreciate nothing more than if everyone reading this could please share my story, and maybe it might reach someone who is selfless and willing to help a stranger in need.
Thank you for your time.
Ray P.