Local Family Desperate to Save Young Dad of 8

This is a heartbreaking message from a Monmouth County girl whose father suddenly fell ill and is now in grave condition.

Shaun Alt and his family live in Keansburg. He is 38-years old and his kids range in age from 5 - 20. He and his wife run the football and cheer program. He helps coach softball for his daughter's team. He is always on a field somewhere helping someone or participating in community events. He doesn't complain. He smiles and continues on as if he is completely normal. But he has State 4 Kidney Failure and is in dire need of a kidney.

Kaitlyn writes this about her dad:

"In February of 2013, Shaun Alt wasn't feeling like himself and took a trip to the hospital. Not thinking anything of it, my family and I continued on with our day. Hours later my mom had gotten a call and was told she'd have to go to the hospital, because it wasn't your typical headache or flu we'd expected. Instead, it was stage 4 Kidney Failure.

My mom had rushed to the hospital and we hadn't heard from her until about 10:00 pm. When she pulled into the driveway, we realized my dad was not in the passenger seat. By then, we knew he wasn't coming home anytime soon.

We'd been taking turns going to see my dad in the hospital all week. When my day finally came, I'd been so nervous. The only thing he'd told me was to be strong and that everything was going to be okay.

My dad's condition got worse then what we had started with. For a week he started acting funny, not making sense. My mom knew something was wrong and forced him to go back to the hospital on January 2. It was then that we found out the toxins had taken over his body. That's when the doctors inserted the port to start dialysis immediately. The port helped blood flow through his body to a machine that cleans his blood from the toxins and then puts the blood back into his body.

Since then, he went through 5 major surgeries to fix the arteries in his arm to receive the dialysis through his arm and not his neck.

My dad lost his job due to his sickness. With all of this, he also lost insurance. My mom has been fighting for months to get him some kind of insurance to make him eligible for a transplant. Just two weeks ago, he received the insurance needed to get back on the active kidney transplant list in the state of New Jersey through Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.

My dad currently does 3 days of dialysis a week. His blood type is the rarest of all kinds and the transplant list goes as long as eight years. That is 1,248 dialysis days. I am starting this page for support, words of encouragement and just to get his story spread. The team at Robert Wood Johnson says that a living donors kidney is better then a deceased donor. Anyone can be tested and I am hoping this brief summary of his story will encourage others to tell about his story and let the his journey for a kidney to be successful.

I have been doing research and there are donors all around the world. I am asking for everyone's help to get his story out there and maybe it will reach someone who is willing to be tested and give my dad the gift of life.
Thank-you for reading and please feel free to leave any encouraging words, or to tell your stories on this page. It is open to anybody!"

Tami, Shaun's wife, says that if you know anyone willing to possibly donate a kidney, please have them call Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, 732-253-3699, and ask to speak with a donor coordinator or someone on the donor team. Say that you want to become a donor FOR SHAUN ALT. And they'll set up an appointment to see if you are a match.

Daughter Lindsey put together this video.