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Join Us in the Fight Against Kidney Disease!
The Circle of CORE is a kidney patient support and advocacy group of living kidney donors and recipients who were inspired post-transplant to give back to the community that supported them through their journeys, to educate and empower the public about kidney disease, and to fundraise for the program that shares in their vision, UCLA CORE Kidney Program.
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Our Stories...
Mary Beth Barry, Kidney Donor Recipient
Retired from Brentwood School
Teacher, Admission Director, Assistant Director Lower School
1995-2017
In January 2012, I was told I had end-stage renal failure, better known as kidney failure. What a body blow that was. Kidney failure is the silent killer; mine even more so than others. My kidney failure was diagnosed as being “idiopathic” which is a fancy word for “unknown cause”. The doctor who delivered my bad news was not optimistic. He led me to believe my only option was hemodialysis, with my life expectancy probably shortened significantly. I was stunned! Fortunately, I then went to UCLA for a second opinion from Drs. Minhtri Nguyen and Huma Hasnain. They too diagnosed kidney failure, but they gave me reason to have some hope for the future. They referred me to another UCLA physician, Dr. Anjay Rastogi. Dr. Rastogi and his dedicated his team changed my trajectory. Dr. Rastogi is a recognized leader in this field, but he is more than an academician. He is a solicitous, caring, thoughtful professional, who will do his utmost to see that you have the best care possible for your kidney issue. His dedicated focus on kidney research and treatment promises to change how we look at and treat kidney disease, before and after the “end stage” diagnosis.
After four and a half years on dialysis I received a kidney on December 16 2016 from a deceased donor! That day I committed to joining Dr Rastogi’s CORE Kidney Team to be a part of educating, empowering, and offering hope to all those who are suffering! Join me in this cause!
Tami Winchell, Living Kidney Donor
Modern Health Media, Publisher
Five years ago, my journey took an unsuspecting path. My husband of fifteen years was in kidney failure. After having lost his father at just five years old, living with the heartache even decades later, my husband was desperate to be present for his children. Much of his family had died with polycystic kidney disease while on dialysis waiting for a deceased donor kidney. He didn’t want to accept this same fate, but it looked inevitable.
As daunting as the task initially felt, we embarked on a relentless journey towards transplantation. At the time, it wasn’t easy, but it was discovered that I could be his donor. It wasn’t a perfect match by any means, quite the opposite, in fact. But it could be done. And so we did. Within just three months, we went from frantic with kidney failure, to at peace and grateful for a successful kidney transplantation.
But the journey didn’t end there. I now lead a kidney disease support and advocacy group, The Circle of CORE. With an association to UCLA CORE Kidney program, we have resources and power for a broad reach, to help as many lives as we can. We are not limited to patients of UCLA, though. Our arms and hearts are open to anyone who needs our personal support or guidance.
Brandy Hughes, Living Kidney Donor
Global Kidney Health, Co-Founder and CEO
Every year Global Kidney Health is a partner and main sponsor of the UCLA Annual Kidney Fair and works to spark new ideas for fundraising and attendance to help educate the public and raise funds for research against kidney disease. Their initiatives are aimed at making an immediate and lasting change in the lives of those living with kidney disease while preventing new diagnosis’. With awareness there is prevention and GKH is giving kidney disease a voice and stopping its silent progression in our society.
Brandy was inspired to establish Global Kidney Health after her kidney donation to her husband. Having dealt with the effects of living with chronic kidney disease and finding their solution in transplantation, together they vowed to give back to the community that supported them through the trials and put them on the journey back to wellness.
Ravi Bhojwani, Living Kidney Transplant Recipient
Brilliant Global Ltd, Founder
I was diagnosed with FSGS at 5 years old and have been working with nephrologists my whole life, I always knew that at some point I would require dialysis and a transplant.
Shortly after moving here, I was blessed to meet Dr. Rastogi, in our first meeting something he said drastically changed my perspective. I had gone to the appointment expecting him to say we will monitor you and you will need to go on dialysis and then wait on the list for a transplant, this was the standard plan. Dr. Rastogi asked me if I had considered a living donor, I mentioned to him that I only have one brother and he has health issues so it won’t work out. Dr. Rastogi told me to go to social media. He mentioned that he has seen too many cases in which friends and family members would have been happy to donate if they knew it was an option and they only found out when it was too late, and this isn’t fair to either party.
I then met one of Dr. Rastogi’s teammates and he told me about a story of a person about my age who didn’t have a donor and so he went to Facebook. Initially the response to his request was negative and he gave up, even stopped checking his account. A few weeks later, he logged in and he had received several messages from someone wanting to donate their kidney to him. It turns out that the lady lost her mom to kidney disease because she couldn’t find a donor on time and she and her sisters were under the age of 18 so they couldn’t donate, but they did make a pact to donate their kidneys at some point in their lives.
I had my brother record a video of me explaining my situation and making my request. I had over 8,000 views in a week and several people came forward. However, one very special lady became my angle the day of the transplant.
After going through this journey, I asked Dr. Rastogi how I could give back and we decided to reignite the Green Ribbon Campaign to raise awareness for kidney disease. Through this program, we distribute thousands of green ribbons to spark a kidney conversation in order to help one another in their journey. I’m also a very active member of The Circle of CORE kidney support and advocacy group. My hope is the help walk other kidney failure patients through asking for a kidney, one of the toughest questions we can ever face.
Dr. Rastogi and his team, including Dr. Kamgar and Dr. Nobakht, are truly amazing, I have never met such a supportive compassionate group of doctors who work so closely with their patients.
Thank you, Dr. Rastogi, for making this possible.
Brian Gilliam, Living Kidney Donor
Nordstrom, Sales Associate
My story is actually pretty simple. I always said if my dad ever needs a kidney I’d give him one. It only took two and a half years to do it. He had been on dialysis for that time and we were thinking he would be fine. I was wrong. I was slowly watching him deteriorate and it was on my mind daily. So my wife and I started to seriously talk about it. Over a couple months of discussion, we decided to start researching the process. It was strange coincidence that when we decided to do this, the signs started popping up everywhere. On tv, on the radio, on Facebook, and in sports. One thing that really influenced me was seeing a post from the Lakers about a lady who had given a kidney and she was being honored at a game in 2015. Turns out that her transplant surgeon was my dad’s transplant surgeon. It was like when you buy a new car and all of a sudden you see the same car everywhere, my signs were everywhere! So I told my dad (super excited) and we contacted UCLA. The process started.
We matched and I was strangely and completely healthy. I was prepared to go into the exchange program if we did not match. That program was very inspiring to me. My process was smooth. The transplant took place five months later. I was cleared to go back to work nine days later. My dad is doing great, but is having trouble with anemia that his dedicated doctors are working on. My recovery was amazingly quick, and besides from the laparoscopic gas pains, very smooth. I feel very lucky and blessed to have been through this transplant program.
Since, I have been working to raise awareness for kidney disease and transplantation. As a member of The Circle of CORE advocacy and support group, I am available to anyone who needs someone to talk to who has been there.
Michelle Steele, Non-Directed (Altruistic) Kidney Donor
Education Coordinator, Nine Zero One Salon
July 10th 2018 I am walking down the halls of Ronald Reagan Medical Center with butterflies in my stomach. My mom and dad following close behind, whispering it would all be okay, reminding me how brave I was. This was a Tuesday unlike any summer day. Typically, surrounded by colleagues at work and heading to the gym for an evening workout. Instead, nurses and doctors, prepping me to undergo surgery, surrounded me.
At the end of 2017, I called a “family meeting” to inform my parents and sibling of a decision I had made. I had been researching who, what, where and how of organ donation. This led me to UCLA Connie Frank Kidney Transplant Center. I read the steps to donation and what life would be like after surgery, over and over. I saw no reason not to donate. This was the start of my journey to become a non-directive donor.
The day I found out I was a match, I remember exactly where I was at work and crying that it was actually happening. Throughout my journey, I was constantly asked why? What made you want to do this? My answer out loud was because I wanted to help someone. I knew whoever my recipient was, this was a gift that would make a difference but the words shared between all of us, were more powerful than I could ever imagine.
I reached out to my Living Kidney Transplant Coordinator, Suzanne McGuire, to find out how I could get more involved. I was eager to be involved with support groups, patients, and the kidney program whether related to donors or recipients. Suzanne introduced me to Christina Lopez, manager of the Core Kidney Program. I was very excited and eager to get the chance to chat with her to see where I could lend a helping hand.
After meeting with Christina to discuss where I could help out, she introduced me to Dr. Rastogi. Dr. Rastogi is one incredible person! Him and his team are doing so much to promote health, share knowledge and provide the best care for patients. We discussed how I could become a volunteer for the committee and eventually become an ambassador for the program. This was all so exciting!
Since meeting with this incredible team of individuals, I have met other donors and recipients who all share a commonality of wanting to get awareness out there. I am so grateful to be amongst this group. We are currently working on the annual Kidney Fair. I can’t wait to see the community come together to support this wonderful day and many more days to come like this.
Jacqueline Combs
Matrimonial & Family Law Attorney
As a former corporate counsel for both private and publicly traded companies, Jacqueline has advised her clients on a wide range of legal issues, including drafting and managing corporate contracts, merger and acquisition due diligence and integration, financial and insurance regulatory matters, and business risk assessment.
Since practicing family law exclusively, Jacqueline has integrated her experience as a prior corporate counsel into the intricacies involved in resolving all aspects of family law disputes, including high-asset and high-income dissolution matters, premarital and post-nuptial agreements, and high-conflict custody cases.
Jacqueline and her husband see the need for promotion of living kidney donor education. In their effort to get involved, Jacqueline and her husband dedicate assistance to the mission of UCLA CORE Kidney Program.
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Gifts are managed and invested in accordance with UCLA’s endowment investment policies. The total return earned in excess of the amount approved annually for payout will be retained in the endowment principal to protect from the effects of inflation and to allow for growth. At the Chancellor’s discretion, when the payout is not needed for purposes of the fund, the return of payout may be added to the endowment fund principal. In the event the fund does not reach endowment minimum; or the program ceases to exist at UCLA, proceeds from the fund will be utilized in an area and manner as closely related as possible to the original intent and purposes for which the fund was established.