Picketing and panhandling for a kidney in Springfield, OR

[Clark]

http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/Woman-forced-to-panhandle-for-a-kidney-241719551.html

Picketing and panhandling for a kidney
By Ty Steele

[video]

or the last 10 years, her kidneys have been slowly failing from a genetic defect.

Now Roxanne Loomis needs a transplant.

The 63-year-old ER nurse's children can't give their mom one of their kidneys. Doctors fear they might have the some condition as their mother and her siblings.

Roxanne's brother is recovering from a kidney transplant. The condition contributed to their older sister's death.

So far, all five friends who've stepped up to donate a kidney have all been told they're ineligible because of a wrong blood type or medical condition.

And while Roxanne is on the national donor list, doctors say there's no gurantee she'll get what she needs to survive.

So she and her friends are taking to the streets of Springfield to ask strangers for help - essentially picketing and panhandling for a human organ.