I Hate Dialysis Message Board

Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: okarol on December 05, 2009, 03:42:37 PM

Title: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 05, 2009, 03:42:37 PM
Dear Friends - This is a project near and dear to my heart! Every year there's a wonderful prom for teenagers and young adults with kidney disease. Everything at the 2010 Renal Teen Prom is FREE - gowns for the girls and ties for the boys are donated, dinner and party treats included, transportation is covered.

Long time survivor, Lori Hartwell, founder and president of RSN, glowed with happiness watching the teens dance, laugh, and make friends at last year's event. “That’s why I created the Renal Teen Prom,” she exclaimed. “I missed my own prom because of chronic kidney disease, which I have had since I was 2. I spent all my teenage years on dialysis. I know that one friend can make a difference, and we give these young people the chance to get to know others who are like them, walking in the same shoes.”

This is the 11th annual prom and I am so honored to help with planning it this year. Lori Hartwell and her team do a fabulous job! The theme is "Masquerade!"
Please send this info on to young kidney patients, friends and family. And if you'd like to donate, or live in the LA area and can drive a teen, please follow the link below.

http://rsnhope.org/programs/renal_teen_prom2.php

Jenna and her brother will also be volunteering again this year!
Please contact me if you'd like more information at kidney4jenna@yahoo.com.
 :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Jean on December 06, 2009, 12:48:06 AM
that is a wonderful and worthwhile project. Teens with CKD are left out enough as it is.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 06, 2009, 05:54:10 PM
I told my mom about this, how I really want to go, but I don't think I can go, since I live in Wisconsin. I'm going to tell my grandparents about this, and see if they'll pay for me to go. I'm sure my grandma would want me to. I hope I can go!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 07:09:43 PM
Brianna I would be happy to donate FF miles, as in a ticket (United - sorry!) for you to get to California if everything else could be worked out.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 06, 2009, 07:34:25 PM
Richard, are you serious? You have no idea how happy that just made me. I'm crying right now. Happy tears and I can't beleive someone would be so nice, tears! I told my mom, and she's about to cry also.

Thank you so much. You have NO idea how much that means to me.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 08:09:29 PM
Richard, are you serious? You have no idea how happy that just made me. I'm crying right now. Happy tears and I can't beleive someone would be so nice, tears! I told my mom, and she's about to cry also.

Thank you so much. You have NO idea how much that means to me.

totally serious. I have more than enough FF miles and since I can't really travel it would be my pleasure to help someone like you get some enjoyment out of them by going to the teen prom, if you can get a spot and all that stuff of course.

if when it's all organised you can PM me details and we can try and see if we can find some flights to make it happen!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Pam on December 06, 2009, 09:03:03 PM
RichardMel.....That is the most generous unselfish offer you made to Brianna! :clap; :clap; I  :pray; it works out for both of you. What goes around comes around and someday you will be greatly rewarded for that offer. You are an exceptional young man!!!!
Pam
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 09:10:21 PM
woohoo! someone called me young!!!!! You should see the grey creeping into my hair :(  :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo;

 :bow; :bow; :bow; :bow; :bow; :bow; :bow;

seriously though honestly it would be my pleasure. Of course Brianna only has a couple of weeks to register and make sure she can get a spot and all that but if I can help in a small way it would be a great pleasure to do so. I used to travel heaps before dialysis so got a few hundred thousand points sitting in my kitty. Now I want to keep most of them for the time I am hopefully able to again travel long haul, but in the meantime if I can put a few towards a worthy cause like this and make a young lady dealing with tough times happy for a bit then that's my pleasure and worth it to me (and just quietly if I spend some they won't expire for another 18 months!!!) so that works (hopefully) for both of us.

I can request FF tickets in other people's names so that should be no problem, and hopefully we can find the seats and all that for Brianna and her mom or whoever she would be going with.... so hopefully she can get accepted to go, organise somewhere to stay and all that stuff and we can all make it happen for her! :)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 06, 2009, 10:45:53 PM
 :bow; RichardMel - you are so sweet to offer to help her with the travel expenses!

I can help by finding a place for you to stay when you're here Brianna!

 :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 06, 2009, 11:06:29 PM
Thanks Karol! I will definitely PM you, when I find out if there's a spot for me!By the way, what are the chances that the spots are all filled up? Just curious.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 06, 2009, 11:07:53 PM
I just sent Lori Hartwell this thread and I am pretty sure she'll save you a spot!  :yahoo;

Go to the webpage below and print out the response card and send it in.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 11:10:22 PM
Yeah Lori is cool. I listen to kidney talk all the time. Brianna is exactly the sort of person the teen prom is for and I reckon she'd love to make it happen for you!!  :clap; :clap; :clap; :clap;
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 06, 2009, 11:13:46 PM
Thank you Karol! My printer's not hooked up right now, we moved in a couple months ago, and we still aren't unpacked! But I'll go to my grandpa's tomorrow after dialysis and print it off there.

You guys are amazing. Thank you. And I can't wait to meet Lori, I saw some videos from the prom the last two years and she seems like an amazing person. And she's short like me! I'm going to be glad to be around short people like myself.   

 The smiles are working for me but *hugs* !
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Jean on December 06, 2009, 11:17:18 PM
RicharMel, you are one awesome guy, what a wonderful thing to do. :bow;
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 11:23:37 PM
please, don't call me awesome(*) until it happens. We need to get Brianna a place and everything else worked out and THEN hopefully united will be able to find some seats from WI to Cali to get her there and back, so still a few hoops to jump, but I hope I can play my small part to give her the night of her life!  :2thumbsup;


(*) my renal team is welcome to call me awesome if that means they'll stamp me as "most compliant" and that goes to the transplant gods :)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 06, 2009, 11:29:23 PM
Richard if the flight there and back doesn't work out, I just realized my grandpa has some FF also. My aunt does too. So I don't NEED to take them from you. ;)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 06, 2009, 11:59:10 PM
Well just in case Brianna doesn't need my help I just donated to RSN to send a couple of teens to the prom, so thanks for the link Karol and I've done a little something to help anyway :)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 07, 2009, 12:01:09 AM
 :bandance; Thanks Richard!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: cariad on December 07, 2009, 08:57:00 AM
Oh, Brianna, I hope you do go! Take lots of  :pics; and tell us all about it when you return.

Richard, what a doll you are. Reading this whole exchange really made my day.

I second that "exceptional young man" comment.   :)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: topazbeauty on December 07, 2009, 09:12:01 AM
Brianna if you need a dress I'm in Madison WI, I'm not sure where you are. But I used to be a town representative (princess) so I have a lot of dresses in a lot of different sizes (you know how weight fluctuates). Dresses, tiaras, gloves, shoes, pretty much whatever you would ever need.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 07, 2009, 04:24:32 PM
I think I read on the website that karol linked to that they provide the gowns and stuff in California which is pretty cool!!

Topaz that's a lovely offer. Watching some of the videos on the website you just wouldn't know a lot of them were on dialysis or had transplants or whatever... they just looked like the usual mix of young people at a dance. It was fantastic :)

This is one of the things I love about IHD, and one of the  reasons I made my offer to Brianna... we all pull together as a community to help each other out... and that's so very special I think. I wanted to contribute.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 07, 2009, 04:47:05 PM
topazbeauty send me a PM, I might want some gloves or something. I live like an hour from madison.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: topazbeauty on December 09, 2009, 07:13:27 PM
Hey Brianna-  My PM stopped working and I can't get it to start again. You can email me at ms.jessica.renee@gmail.com so we can figure things out. Thanks!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: kitkatz on December 22, 2009, 10:06:53 PM
Brianna, if you need a place to stay for free in California for the prom you can stay in Rialto with us.  I can drive you to the prom if needed. I have a messy guest room, if you will have it.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 22, 2009, 10:16:42 PM
so yeah what's the update with this... the registrations have closed by now and all that. What's happening? Is our Brianna getting to be a prom queen??????
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Goofy on December 23, 2009, 08:25:48 AM
Brianna, I was also going to ask if you need a dress.  I live close to the WI border (by Kenosha).  Not sure where you live but I would also be willing to deliver it to you.  I've made lots of and lots of trip to WI!!   Even if you're several hours away, I would still come.  I could just make it a little road trip!!

They are dresses from my daughter.  I think they are between size 4, 6 or 8.  I'm not really sure.  But if you are in that range of size, I may have something you'd like.

Now we all know that young (and old!!) girls like to be pampered and you can't go the prom with out getting a manicure so if you'd like, PM me and give me the name of a place you'd like to go and I will make sure the service gets paid.

As far as pampering goes, I'm not one for that kind of stuff but I hope you are!!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Brianna! on December 28, 2009, 01:15:59 PM
I'm not going this year, anymore. My friend can't go, my mom can't take me, because she can't travel for three months because of an eye surgery she had, and I didn't even rsvp yet! I was just so stressed about all this, I just decided not to go this year. My grandpa and I agree that next year would be better for me to go. I'm upset, but I'm going next year no matter what! And Jes, I still want to meet you! I want to show you my scar on my arm, so you know what to expect, but not Tuesday, because we have too much to do.

Thanks for the help though, everyone! I really, really, really appreciate it!!!!!!

<3 Brianna
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: paris on December 28, 2009, 01:31:12 PM
Brianna, let's all start planning now for your prom next year!   You seem to have many fairy godmothers and godfathers who really want this to happen for you.   It will be fun for all of us to be in on a year of preparations.   :2thumbsup;
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 28, 2009, 05:49:24 PM
Brianna, I sent you a PM and if you change your mind, I can help. But if you come next year that would be great too! Don't stress!

Today I volunteered at the prom dress distribution. The RSN van was loaded with dresses driven to UCLA's pediatric dialysis unit where volunteers set up tables filled with gowns and wraps, while longer gowns were hung all around the hospital meeting room. Watching the young ladies (14, 15, 16 years old) picking out dresses to try on was amazing. The girls are so young, so beautiful, and so filled with hope! I hope to post a couple of photos later. It was a heartbreaking and heartwarming experience - both at the same time.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: okarol on December 29, 2009, 09:26:18 PM
Girls getting dresses for the prom at UCLA
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: RichardMEL on December 31, 2009, 09:10:46 PM
Wow makes me almost (ALMOST!) wish I was a teenager again!!!

 :shy;

Brianna I am sorry you could not go this year and I'm more sorry that you got so stressed about it - it's supposed to be fun and special for you to celebrate.. not to cause stress.

Just know that my offer totally still stands for next year. I will provide two tickets for you and your mom or someone else to head from WI to Los Angeles to attend the prom!!!!

We all want to help you get there!!!
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Maxridex on January 01, 2010, 02:55:59 AM
oh Brianna you can't go :( I wanna go as well but yeah I'm in London lol... maybe after transplant :)
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Phraxis on January 01, 2010, 10:10:37 PM
KUDO's to you RichardMEL -- reading this thread has warmed my heart.

Brianna, I hope that you get the arrangements sorted out and get to go. Safe journey and please give us the very 'superficial' account of all the fun that you have. We wouldn't want you betraying any of your secrets. 
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: topazbeauty on January 03, 2010, 10:20:03 AM
Sounds good Brianna!  Let me know, maybe we can do something some weekend, and don't think youhave to come to me. I'm usually pretty free on the weekends so I can drive out to you. Even though you can't go to this prom, if you get around to needed anything for your school's prom (not sure if you have a prom or not) my offer still stands for you to grab any of my stuff.
Title: Re: Prom for kidney teens and young adults
Post by: Maxridex on February 18, 2010, 04:50:27 AM
I wish i live in USA hahaaa :) Brianna gooooo yooooou btw I need to contact you back, lovely x