disease

A Fort Worth Woman Uses Her Car To Find A Kidney Donor

Shelly Wheaton spends a lot of time on the road for work. So when it came time to make a public plea for help in her health battle she knew her car would play an important role.

Other drivers now take pictures of her message to anyone on the road behind her.

"Hero needed," Shelly Wheaton said. "I need a kidney."

Wheaton was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease or PKD in 2014. Tumors are shutting down her kidneys. Dialysis is the only thing keeping her alive until she can find her hero.

"A hero is somebody that saves something," Wheaton said. "They are going to save, they are going to save my life."

At first Wheaton didn't even want anyone to know she had the disease.

"At the beginning I couldn't even talk about it," Wheaton said.  "I broke down in tears. I got emotional."

But now she's letting the world know. In just a couple weeks of the message being on her car she says about 20 people have offered to donate a kidney.

She's hoping once she finds her match the generosity continues.

"I'm hoping that the people who have come forward, we can kind of match them up, maybe they will come forward for somebody else," Wheaton said. "Because if they are willing to do it for me and not know who I am hopefully they will be willing to do it for somebody else."

Wheaton is overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.

"It is beyond humbling," Wheaton said. "It gets me teary eyed. You know it's just amazing that people are that kind."

Kindness that has come from a simple message.

Wheaton says she wants to become an advocate for PKD awareness.

For more information you can reach Wheaton by email at akidney4shelly@gmail.com.

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