Shiloh's Great Escape - Our Introduction and Journey Towards Freedom!

I moved in with Josh, became his care partner and we ran his dialysis sessions together five times a week for a little over a year. During this time, we were given the news that not only was our blood type a match, but the tissue antigen tests were also a match (extremely rare for non blood relatives.) In couples, this is something like a 2% chance. It was so exciting! We went ahead with the transplant which was a success and thankfully, miraculously, serendipitously - the transplanted kidney is functioning beautifully.

Unfortunately, Josh does still technically have recurrent FSGS, which means the disease is still circulating throughout his plasma. However, it does not run our life. He has treatments only once every three weeks, and for the most part - leads a normal, healthy life. He suffers with lethargy sometimes - but we don't know if that is due to the disease somehow or just a simple lack of exercise and a somewhat, but not terribly unhealthy diet. We're working on it. We do pretty well except when it comes to hash browns, tater tots, pomme frites, patatas frites, no matter the shape, form - or language - fried potatoes
are delicious. Ok, ok Mexican food too...(another shared love)

His care team at University Nebraska Medical Center has been nothing short of extraordinary and has made it a priority to keep Josh's levels within range to keep damage to the transplanted kidney to a minimum if anything at all.

**Side note, I recently found a correlation between FSGS and exposure to black mold. Josh just so happened to live in an apartment complex in Denver that has been accusedof housing and neglecting a black mold issue. Digging further, I uncovered that going on a gluten free diet has helped many people with autoimmune diseases, including FSGS. The doctors discount this, which is really no surprise - but I believe his going gluten free has helped tremendously with his creatinine levels. We have watched the progress for ourselves - even when he was on a five to six week break from the treatments. For this reason, gluten free is the diet he continues to follow. **

Fast forward to today - we have our miracle baby Shiloh. Neither of us thought we would ever be a parent, neither of us necessarily ever wanted a child, years ago, Joshua was faced with, and choosing death...yet here we are. Shiloh is now six months old and the center of our world.

Josh and I currently work together at a local bakery …and we're not happy where we work. That's such a drastic understatement. It's not the work that's appalling. Baking is a somewhat creative position, but honestly - 80% of the people we work for and with are toxic, negative and angry. Despite our efforts, the environment is purely draining to our bodies, minds and souls!

I have been in this kind of situation at work more times than I can shake a friggin stick at and I am over it. Which leads me to the point of this intro... with our total distaste in working for people we don't respect in addition to the state of the world we're in now as a whole it just makes good sense to be mobile. I fear for Shiloh's future and need to teach her how to be self sufficient.

Feel free to subscribe and follow us on facebook and instagram @shilohsgreatescape, and on our blog at shilohsgreatescape.com Please understand all of these accounts are brand new and very much under construction, but we promise to have lots more content soon. We are planning on starting a YouTube channel as well, so I'll let you all know when that's up and running.

Thanks so much for reading and for joining us on our