In the spring of 2016, Bo was 35 years old. He and his wife Julie were expecting a baby girl in the early fall of that year.

In early May, Bo felt like he was coming down with the flu, experiencing symptoms of sever fatigue, fever, body aches and headaches. Over the course of a couple of weeks his symptoms continued to get worse. He met with a doctor and was told he probably had a bacterial or viral infection and to go home and rest. Two days later he went in for a second opinion and the doctor drew blood for testing. When the results from the lab came back the next morning, the doctor called and told Bo to go immediately to the emergency room. The lab results indicated that he was experiencing acute kidney failure.


In the hospital, it took almost a week of testing, but he was ultimately diagnosed with Good Pastures Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease in which antibodies attack the basement membrane in lungs and kidneys, leading to bleeding from the lungs and kidney failure. The disease occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly produces antibodies against collagen in the lungs and kidneys. In Bo’s case, fortunately only his kidneys had been attacked. The creatinine levels in his blood were extremely high, as was his potassium, which at high levels can stop the heart. Bo’s kidneys had all but stopped working. This disease has no known cause and it affects about one in a million people. The doctors were not looking for it. From that first day in the emergency room, he was admitted and ultimately stayed in the hospital for nearly one month. That was the first month we would begin to fight this illness, and we are very blessed to be where we are today.

This time was extremely scary and crucial, and with blessing, we were able to find Dr. Berman, who performed a kidney biopsy within the first week, confirmed his diagnosis and treated him closely for several months.

To try and salvage the damage done to his kidneys, Bo underwent 7 rounds of plasmapharesis, a month of dialysis and ultimately, one year of chemotherapy both in NYC and Austin, TX. During this time, Julie gave birth to their beautiful baby girl, the greatest bright spot in this entire situation we could have ever imagined.

Bo has ongoing weekly and monthly blood tests to monitor creatinine, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, BUN and the antibodies that were attacking his kidneys. His kidney function is declining but he continues to fight.

Over the course of the past 8 years, Bo has undergone many treatments, medications, experienced one relapse, a horrific amount of prednisone, iron infusions, injections, chemotherapy, organ rejection and immune system suppressant drugs. At the same time, he also moved across the country (twice), opened a shop and photo studio, celebrated 8 years with his daughter, a precious beam of light and laughter, and began to gain back his strength.

And now, ultimately, having survived all of the aforementioned illnesses, relapses, medications and treatments, Bo’s antibodies are at O. Zero, a number we positively visualized in our minds for over a year and now finally see in reality on his test results.

He has overcome Good Pasture’s Syndrome. The antibodies are gone.

The damage now, exists in his kidneys. The damage that this disease left behind is now what we have to manage. His kidney function is currently around 6%, and he has been approved as a candidate for a kidney transplant but the wait time is over 5 years. He is currently preparing for dialysis.

And so now, more deeply than ever, and with infinite hope and gratitude, we are leaning on our family, friends and possibly even the kindness of someone wonderful we haven’t yet met to donate a kidney for Bo.

Looking back at the past 8 years, there have been so many long nights, scary days and uncertainties, and now that Bo has made it to this wonderful new chapter, he has the opportunity to live again, and that would be, truly, the most amazing gift that anyone could ever give to another human being. Hearing the Dr. say those words moved us to tears, and we are so incredibly grateful for this opportunity to begin the transplant process.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.  We appreciate so much your sincere interest and the love you’ve shown our family simply by visiting this page.  To take the next steps as a possible kidney donor, simply click the drop down menu on our “ways to help” tab.

You can also find more information and begin the living donor application process by clicking this direct link.

And for FAQs, we’ve created a section here to help answer some of your questions.

Thank you so much for your love.