Ananda in Texas has been praying for months for Missy Smith and her sons, Gideon and Bowen. They have had an inordinate amount of challenges this past year ON TOP of the pandemic. Gideon is in his early 20's and has a rare kidney condition that requires him to have a kidney transplant in order to save his life. He is currently on 16 hours a day of dialysis awaiting a donor. You can imagine what is top on Missy's list for Christmas! Missy is also a working single mom with another young son, Bowen who is eight. Because of the pandemic and his brother's condition, Bowen needs to stay home and the whole family has to follow a very strict protocol for COVID. Needless to say, this has all been very hard on the family. In the spirit of the season I would like to propose that our Ananda Texas family adopt the Smith's for Christmas, wrapping them in Christmas cheer! If you are interested in joining this endeavor, please let me know what you may want to donate for this cause. With discretion, I talked to Missy recently to see what help might look like. Of course top on her list was a kidney donor, no surprise there! Then she mentioned a couple of restaurants where they enjoy take-out (being a working single mom, that seems like a good one!) Supriya and I also thought it might be nice to get them a poinsettia or some kind of specific Christmas themed present. We could also consider a special gift for Bowen. (As often is the case when you have another family member that requires inordinate amounts of attention and care and there is no real other support group outside of your immediate family, then the "healthy" child suffers a different kind of hardship!) If you are interested in participating, you may have some other ideas too! And even if you can't participate monetarily during these challenging times, there is a very meaningful way you can participate by simply spreading the word and sharing through email and social media in the search for Gideon's donor. Time is of the essence for this young man! If you need more info, sample letter, the link for Baylor Kidney donor website, please just contact maitri@anandadallas.org.

Together we can create a magnetism of happiness and hope for this family. Many hands make a miracle!

Dec 15th Update

Here is a little more info about Gideon that I received from Missy:

Gideon was diagnosed in July 2019 with End Stage Renal Disease caused by igA nephropathy, aka Berger’s disease. He has had many other complications along the way since his diagnosis. Today he goes to see the hemotologist for another blood draw because his platelets are pretty low. This has been something that’s happened several times. (The low platelets). He is recovering from cellulitus, after a recent bout of pneumonia, but he is fortunate that he can now do peritoneal dialysis (PD) at home.

I have purchased a couple of very nice gifts for the boys suggested by Missy, and will be getting the restaurant gift cards for Missy, along with a couple Christmas lawn ornaments for their yard. The remaining (majority of) money will be given to Missy in the form of a check. The current plan is to deliver the gifts in person with a few other "elves" this coming Sunday between 3 and 4pm. If you are interested in being one of the elves, let me know. We will only be outside, socially distancing and wearing masks. I don't plan on staying longer than 1/2 hour. We will probably sing a few christmas carols, plug in the lawn ornaments and then go. Missy lives just north of 380 above Denton. I am also looking into seeing if a friend of mine is willing to come as Santa. Every year he does charity events as Santa (He's the best!) but this year I am not sure he is doing that because of the pandemic. I am still working on the template for sharing the donor info via social media and I'll begin sharing this info as soon I get it formulated, but in the meantime I have once again attached all the info you need to create your own email or social media post. Again, thank you all for your support of Missy and her two sons. This is going to be such a joyful blessing for this family! Let's keep praying for a kidney donor, God willing. What a miracle it would be if it happened by Christmas!

Christmas Cheer for Missy, Gideon, and Bowen

By Ananda Dallas

Christmas Cheer for Missy, Gideon, and Bowen

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