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Without the money for transplant, she will die

Her parents gave up good jobs- and health insurance - to come to America. Now they scramble to save her.

By EBONY WINDOM
Published October 7, 2005

	[Times photo: Lara Cerri]
	Mikyoung Kim, 25, who needs a kidney, is treated at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg Thursday. The hospital doesn't do transplants.

Doctors say Mikyoung Kim will die if she doesn't get a kidney transplant.

Both of her kidneys have failed and she's getting dialysis. On Thursday evening, the 25-year-old St. Petersburg woman was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines.

Both of her parents have offered to donate a kidney, but the family has neither medical insurance nor the money to pay for the surgery. And Bayfront doesn't do transplants.

So Kim is being discharged today, her condition deteriorating and her future uncertain.

Two years ago, the Kims came to the United States from Seoul, South Korea. Kim's father, Jong Woo Kim, was offered a job as pastor of a church in California. Last fall, the family moved to St. Petersburg and he started Hope Korean Lutheran Church in New Port Richey. He accepts a modest salary from the church. To make ends meet, Jong Woo Kim and his wife, Jeong Hee Lee Kim, work part time as janitors. Neither of them speak English.

Mikyoung Kim started classes at St. Petersburg College, where she was learning English and studying nursing.

Her problems started in February, when she passed out and her parents rushed her to the hospital. Doctors told them that one of Kim's kidneys wasn't working properly. She was given medication, and went home feeling much better.

Then, in mid September, Mikyoung fell ill again. But, this time, she kept it to herself. Kim saw her parents still struggling to make $100 monthly payments from her previous hospital visit and she didn't want to burden them further.

So Kim waited, hoping to get better.

But her parents realized something was wrong. They rushed her to the emergency room at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. But by that time, she was in very bad shape.

Doctors told her that she was lucky to be alive: both kidneys had failed.

They gave her two choices: get on the donor list, then spend $190,000 for a kidney transplant. Or try dialysis, at $1,200 per week.

The Kim family can't afford either option.

Back in South Korea, they had health insurance and good-paying jobs. Now they have neither, and the couple are desperately exploring options to save their daughter. The language barrier doesn't help.

A friend of the family, Greg Phillips, says they were told that unless you're a U.S. citizen, there's no money available.

So for the past three weeks, Mikyoung Kim has been at Bayfront Medical Center - waiting and praying her parents will come up with something.

Bayfront won't turn anyone away just because they can't pay, says hospital spokeswoman Nancy Waite. "In fact, last year we provided 15-million dollars in charity care."

But because Bayfront doesn't do transplants, Kim will have to end up at a hospital that does.

"We always work with (patients) to come up with a safe, medically appropriate discharge plan," Waite said.

The Kims have been referred to LifeLink HealthCare Institute in Tampa for help with a transplant. To start the process, the group would need $1,890 upfront, according to a letter provided to the Times. Then, $10,600 once they are accepted into their donor program. And, that's only the deposit. The total cost is estimated at $190,000, the Kims say. Now, the Kims say they'll do the only thing they know how: pray.

"(We) just pray to God," Jeong Hee Lee Kim said through an interpreter. "Help us."

Anyone interested in helping the Kims help pay for a kidney transplant for Mikyoung can call Greg Phillips at (727) 534-1190.

[Last modified October 7, 2005, 01:50:23]