Please read and do what you can. There is no PayPal account, but donation information is included at the end of this article :


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Dagoberto Chavez said that by watching his 8-year-old son, you would never know there is anything wrong with him. "He has been through so much already," the Yuma resident said. "But he is such a really great kid."

While he appears to be a typical second-grader at Palmcroft Elementary School who enjoys going to school, hanging out with his friends and playing soccer, looks can be deceiving.

"(Alan) is amazing," said his teacher Mary Beckett. "He comes to school with tubes sticking out of him (under his clothes) but you would never know he was sick."

Unlike other kids in his classroom, Alan is in renal failure, which means his kidneys are malfunctioning, and he is in desperate need of a kidney transplant to survive.

"They (parents) have been told by doctors that Alan only has about eight more months of kidney function, and that was in October," said Diana Teegardin, the family resource center coordinator for the Safe Schools Healthy Students Program of Yuma School District 1.

Alan, whose kidneys have not filtered properly since he was a baby, must undergo dialysis three times a day, every day.

"It's been such a part of his life," said a tearful Chavez of his son, who spent the first six months of his life in the hospital. "It would be a dream come true if he were healthy."

In addition to taking medication and having to be hooked up to a dialysis machine throughout the night while he sleeps, Alan must also get a treatment each day at school.

"His parents come to school to perform the dialysis," Teegardin said. "They are very diligent, wanting to keep him in school."

Having seen doctors all his life and having undergone eight surgeries so far, with the most recent one being a week ago, Alan knows he is a sick little boy.

"My kidneys aren't feeling well," Alan said of his condition, which has caused problems and complications.

While his parents worry about his health, they say it's a blessing he is still able to lead as normal a life as possible.

"When the doctor told him he was sick, he just laughed it off like everything was going to be fine," Chavez said. "He bounces back each time after he has a surgery, but it won't always be so easy for him."

In October, Alan collapsed and had to be flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.

While a family member is donating a kidney to Alan, the Chavez family can't afford the $45,000 they will need to cover the hospital costs for the transplant, for both him and the donor.

They will also need additional funds to cover the cost of the medication he will need to take for the rest of his life, which is used to prevent infection and to avoid rejection of the kidney.

The Safe Schools Healthy Students Program of Yuma School District 1, which has been active in Alan's case since February, will be doing some fundraising in the coming months to help cover the medical cost.

According to Teegardin, the program will launch a "Change for Life" campaign in April and is challenging each school in the district to raise certain amounts.

"We will be setting up those five-gallon jugs at the schools so the children can put their change in them. Our goal is to raise enough money to cover the cost of the initial surgery, as well as Alan's and the donor's care."

Teegardin said the program will be putting on several other events in the coming months, although not all the details have been worked out.

Initially, an account was set up with AEA Credit Union, but recently the Yuma Community Church offered to allow funds to go through the church, using its nonprofit status.

Now people who want to make a donation, Teegardin said, can do so and it will be tax-deductible, with all the money going to the Chavez family.

Through recent fundraising efforts, the Yuma Scorpions raised $6,000 and the Chavez family raised $3,000 through a fundraiser with Pio Pio restaurant.

Palmcroft School and Rolle School, both in District 1, have raised $900 and $1,000, respectively. Brownie's Restaurant also has collected money.

Alan has made plans already for when he gets a clean bill of health from the doctor. Since he has a strict diet, which limits what he can eat, Alan hasn't been able to have anything made of his favorite flavor.

"I'm going to drink chocolate milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Alan said referring to a box of powdered milk mix his parents have been saving for him until he can drink it. "I also want to go swimming and wrestle with my dad."

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HOW YOU CAN HELP

To donate, call Diana Teegardin at (928) 782-6581 or the Yuma Community Church at (928) 726-3007. Donations are also being accepted through Yuma Community Church, care of Julie Stevens, 7205 E. 26th St., Yuma, Arizona 85365 - All checks must be made to "Yuma Community Church" with "Alan Chavez Fund" on the memo line. Cash donations will be acknowledged with a receipt upon request, with a return address. 100% of all donations go to Alan. There are no administrative fees and all fundraising is done by volunteers.


I don't like to solicit donations, but our city has been trying to get money for this little guy, and it's taking too long. If any of you can help, it will be appreciated. He has a donor, but his family doesn't have the money for the surgeries, and that's no reason for him to die...