A down payment for a new life

A down payment for a new life

Friday, April 02, 2010
By Nick Christensen
The Hillsboro Argus

The Argus

Forest Grove teen, anonymous donor help Vernonia man who needed $8,000 to qualify for a kidney transplant

Darrold Mushatt was ready to spend years of his life waiting for a new kidney.

Literally, years.

Three days a week driving from his Vernonia home to Forest Grove for dialysis. Three days of sitting while his blood was cleaned of toxins. Hours lost away from time with his children, and three years and counting since he's been able to practice his trade, working as a diesel mechanic.

"Who wants to go to a doctor's appointment three days a week for four hours?" he said.

The drama began in April 2007, when he began feeling sick. A trip to the hospital ended with surgery and emergency dialysis to treat sudden renal failure.

Mushatt has insurance, a lifeline that will help him pay for a kidney transplant some day. But that some day has to wait until he has $8,000 saved, the down payment, so to speak, he needs before he can qualify for a transplant.

Mushatt had about $2,000 saved, but, he said, "I figured it was going to take a while" to get the rest.

Enter Jessikah Barrios.

A senior at Forest Grove High School, Barrios heard about Mushatt from her mom, LaRayne, who works with Mushatt's mom, Aggie Naeve.

"She told me how he was a father of four and how he can't work, how his wife's the only one working it was just a really sad story," Jessikah said.

But $6,000?

"I figured I could set up a table for handmade crafts and make some money off that," she said. "And I put up some donation cans around town."

Jessikah and her family began knitting and purling their way toward having something to sell. Friends and strangers began donating hats, scarves, even jewelry for the fundraiser. Forest Grove-based Sweet Treats by George donated fudge. Students at Neil Armstrong Middle School put together bracelets and bookmarks.

Slowly, the money started trickling in. At bazaars in Banks, sales at Tuality Hospital, schools and in Tillamook, people started putting Mushatt closer to his goal one craft at a time.

Jessikah became the linchpin for a community's support of one man's dream.

After a winter of chipping away at her goal, Jessikah had $4,200 raised.

The rest came at a bazaar at Tuality hospital.

"This man I met said 'I'm living proof that a kidney transplant works, and I want to help,'" Jessikah said.

Two days later, he cut a check for $2,000, pushing Mushatt over the $8,000 threshold. The man, LaRayne Barrios said, asked not to be identified.

"It was joyous," Mushatt said. "I was pretty ecstatic."

He's not out of the woods yet. Mushatt must still wait for a donor, and then faces more expenses as he takes anti-rejection medicine. Jessikah is continuing her fundraising.

But after a winter of hard work, she said she learned an important lesson about her friends and neighbors.

"If you put your mind to something, if you sit down and think about things, they can come together very quickly," she said. "Even with the economy being so poor, there are such generous people out there willing to help a good cause."

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